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.