7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 8: Canoe

This is the last blog in our 8 blog series about 7 indigenous Taino words you might know. I hope you enjoyed the series. Check our blog to read the previous posts.

Canoe

The word "canoe" is the anglicized version of the Taino word phonetically spelled in Spanish as canoa. Early English spellings of this word varied considerably: cano, canow, canoa. However, by around 1600, canoe had come to be the most accepted spelling.

The word canoe is a good example of a "ghost word," which is a word whose meaning or origin is inaccurately recorded in an authoritative reference. It thus becomes widely accepted and it is difficult to correct the false perception once it has pervaded a society. For a long time, most people thought the word "canoe" originated from a word used by one of the native peoples of what is now the United States. However, this turns out to be false and was caused by a transcription error of a scribe in the late 15th century.

Canoe adventure Chavon River

Both our Junge Eco Tour and our Tanama river day include canoeing on the Chavon river. You can participate in our canoe adventure to a little side river of the Rio Chavon. We go deeper into the jungle and have to navigate through hanging lians and around fallen trees. We might see the fresh water turtles here.

To conclude the series

So there you have it, 7 common words in English that you have probably been using most of your life: potato, barbeque, cannibal, hammock, manatee, hurricane, and canoe. It is heart-warming to think that the words of a language that has been declared extinct live on as everyday words spoken by so many. Every time you speak these 7 Taino words, you honor the Taino people who were forbidden to speak their own language as a tool to conquer them.

7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 7: Hurricane

Today is the 15th of September, traditionally the day that has seen the most hurricanes throughout history. This word doesn't need further introduction.

Hurricane

Like the manatee, described in the previous post, Columbus and the other Spaniards had never seen anything like a hurricane. In fact, they missed seeing a hurricane on their first voyage to the New World where they enjoyed near perfect weather. However, on their second and third voyages to the New World, strong hurricanes hit. In fact, the new settlement, Isabella, that Columbus had recently established was completely wiped out. Needless to say, these Caribbean hurricanes made a lasting impression.

Because they had never seen any weather pattern like a hurricane before, they adopted the Taino word for it and spelled it phonetically as, "hurakan." Of course the anglicized version of this is "hurricane." The Taino word hurakan was used not only to describe the actual weather event but also the path of destruction it left in its wake like downed trees and other devastated landscape. I like this concept and tend to think of hurricanes this way too. In the Arawakan tradition, the Taino called their storm God hurakan and both feared and revered him.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season

Hurricane season in the Dominican Republic and in the rest of the Caribbean begins in June and ends in November. Historically, September is the most active month followed by August. The peak of the season usually falls somewhere between late August and early September. However, you should remember that some of the deadliest Category 4 and Category 5 hurricanes have manifested themselves earlier in the season. In other words, it is impossible to predict for certain when the biggest hurricanes of the season will hit.

Storms on our excursions

Tropical storms can be predicted and when there is a risk we don't go out. However thunder storms and heavy shpwers can develop rapidly in the Caribbean. We sometimes get caught by a short heavy storm and have to rev the motors of the speedboats to escape. Have a look at the pic from Loes, make in 2012. To keep up to date about storms check our hurricane watch page.

7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 6: Manatee

You might have heard of the word, but you might not know what it is. This is one of the lesser known words we adopted from the Taino language and is part 6 of our 8 serie blog. See the previous post about these subjects.

Manatee

Columbus had never seen a manatee before when he arrived in the New World so he did not have a name for it. This is why the Spaniards almost immediately adopted the Taino word for manatee, "manati." This often happens when someone from a different culture encounters something new for the first time. "Manatee" is the anglicized version of "manati."

The manatee must have looked like a strange creature indeed. At first, in fact, Columbus mistook the manatee for a mermaid, half woman and half fish. In fact, in his journals after seeing the manatees he wrote that mermaids weren't as beautiful as they had been made out to be! Manati means "breast" in the Taino language because manatees have mammary glands that resemble those on female humans. The idea that the word manati is a corruption of the Spanish word for hand, "mano," because the manatee's front flippers look like hands has been shown to be false and the similarity is a mere coincidence.

Manatees in Bayahibe.

We occassionaly see Manatees here. They graze the submerged grasses around the Piscina Natiral. Have a look at the video below. Carlos, our Spanish guide swimming with Manatees in front of Dominicus.

 

 

As said we don't see them often, but that makes our Saona Excursion not less interesting. Check this excursion here.

 

 

 

 

7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 5: Hammock

Of course everybody knows the word 'Hammock', after you barbequed the bachata it is the favorite place to relax. The previous post about the Taino words we all know was about the word 'Cannibal. Check this post.

 

Hammock

 

Upon seeing how the Taino lived on his first voyage to the New World, Columbus wrote in his journal, "..for beds, they had nets of cotton, extended between two posts." Later in his journal he wrote, "...a great many Indians in canoes came to the ship today for the purpose of bartering their cotton and hamacas or nets in which they sleep." There is little dispute that the English word "hammock" is an anglicized version of the Taino word, "hamacas," as the Spaniards phonetically spelled it in Spanish.

 

Before Columbus' arrival in the New World, cotton was little known. It is thought that seeing how strong and durable the hammocks were that woven out of cotton twine sparked their interest in cotton for clothing and other goods that soon followed.

Fancy Hammocks

This is what we made of it:

 

 

 

7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 4: Cannibal

The past two blog where about eating, this one is about 'being eaten'. This is the third word we all know which stems from the Taino language. The previous post was about “barbeque' .

Cannibal

When Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492, the Taino were being attacked by another Arawakan people, now referred to as the Carib. The Taino told Columbus and the other Spaniards about another group of people who mostly lived on the Lesser Antilles who were fierce and had captured and eaten them. They referred to these people as caribal which loosely meant fierce and brave. The Spanish corrupted this into "Canibales" which was later anglicized into "cannibals." The Taino may have pronounced "caribal" more like "cannibal" too because in Arawakan languages the consonants of l, n, and r are sometimes interchangeable. It should be noted that the Carib people called themselves something closer to "Kalinago."

Many historians have discovered that Columbus had little to no evidence that the Carib were actually cannibals - most assuredly not anywhere near to the extend he depicted them to be. The Caribs were fierce warriors who put up far more resistance to European conquerors. It is thought by some scholars that Columbus used the word "cannibals" as a pejorative term to paint them as monsters and to discredit them thus making it easier for his men to conquer them. Unlike the Taino, there are a few full-blooded Carib still alive today - but very few.

Pirates of Caribbean:

The film company Disney added to this dilemma when it made the most recent sequel of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest by portraying Dominica’s Island-Caribs as cannibals. Prior to filming, despite protests from Native American groups, Disney continued with its project. The sequel was a commercial success. These misleading movie images may be forever burned into the minds of future generations. The National Garifuna Council of Dominica criticized the movie for “portraying the Carib people as cannibals”.

Whatever the truth is, it makes a nice story to share with friends when barbeque-ing a potato.

 

7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 3: Barbeque

Here the next blog about the Taino words we all know and use. The previous blog was about the potato. Let's stick with food for a minute and this blog is about one of the favorite Sunday afternoon past times in the Western world: the barbeque.

The origin of the term "barbeque," which is often spelled in various ways in American English, is controversial with passionate opposing viewpoints. However, the majority of linguistic scholars seem to agree that the term, or one very similar to it, originated from the Taino language.

According to Peter Guanikeyu Torres, President and Council Chief of the Taino Indigenous Nation of the Caribbean and Florida, the Taino word "barabicu" meant "the sacred fire pit." This is likely where the American English word "barbeque" is derived from. It describes a structure for cooking animal flesh very slowly, which traditionally consisted of a wooden platform resting on green pimento tree branches and leaves.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6969009

 

Local Recipe

The origin of the word Barbeque is in what is now the Dominican Republic. This might have led to an unusual local recipe, try it if you dare...

Beer Can Chicken:  “Who wants to insert a half-drunk beer into the bottom of a chicken?”

This is a great way to cook a chicken! As the liquid evaporates inside the chicken, the flesh is kept wonderfully moist; while the outside dry-roasts and crisps the skin perfectly. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper with some fresh thyme onto the skin to bring out the flavour.

Recipe:

Open the beer and pour off (or drink) half the contents.

• Set the can on a flat surface and slide the chicken over the top so the can fits inside the cavity.


• Place the chicken on the grill – keeping upright, using the legs for balance. Roast for up to 1 1/2 hours.


• Remove the chicken, (taking care not to spill the contents of the can which will be hot). Let the chicken rest for about ten minutes then lift from the can and discard the beer.

Have fun barbe'guy'ing!!! And toast on the Taino for bringing the word to our world.

On all our excursions we serve a traditional barbeque, with some real Taino dishes.

7 Indigenous Taino Words You Probably Already Know – Part 2: Potatoes

This blog is part of a series of 8 post describing 7 Taino words we use today (in English). This is part is about the word 'potato'.

Potato

Meat and potatoes is home cookin' American dinner faire, right? Wrong! The word "potato" comes directly from the Taino language. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World they had never seen or eaten a potato. The Taino were accomplished farmers and they shared their sweet potato, which they called "batata," with the Spaniards.

Columbus himself presented the "batata" to Queen Isabella after his first voyage. In subsequent voyages, Columbus and his men discovered the white potato in Peru called "papa" by the indigenous people. Somehow the "p" from "papa" got added to the "batata" and the Spanish word for potato became "patata" with the anglicized version becoming "potato." Well, the rest is history as they say because we all know how prevalent the potato is today.

For a long time, the white potato took a back seat to the sweet potato in Europe. In fact, the white potato was called the "bastard potato" for a long time. Anyway, the next time you order mashed potatoes or pop a big potato into the microwave for a quick meal, remember the Taino. Instead of calling your fries "freedom fries" maybe you can instead call them "Taino fries" out of respect for those who lost their freedom.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6969009

Now-a-days the potato is the staple food for people living in temperate climates.

Some facts:

• The potato is the most universally grown crop in the world.


• Despite health concerns, potato chips are one of the most common snack foods in the world with billions of packets being consumed every year.


• One of the main causes of the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852 was a potato disease known as potato blight. The shortage of potatoes led to the death of around 1 million people who were dependent on them as a food source.


• Potatoes were the first food to be grown in space. In 1996, potato plants were taken into space with the space shuttle Columbia.

So, every time you eat a potato, you honor the Taino people who were forbidden to speak their own language as a tool to conquer them.