Language of the Voiceless: Traces of Taino Language, Food, and Culture in the Americas From 1492 to the Present
by Leonardo Nin
by Leonardo Nin
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P a g e | 103<br />
O<strong>the</strong>r Primary Sources mentions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> possible orig<strong>in</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> word macana:<br />
a)—Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo La His<strong>to</strong>ria Natural y General de las Indias:<br />
Pelean con macanas los <strong>in</strong>dios de esta isla, que son unos palos tan anchos como<br />
tres dedos ó algo menos, é tan luengos como la estatura de un hombre con dos<br />
filos algo agudos; y en el extremo de la macana tiene una manija, é usaban<br />
dellas como de hacha de armas á dos manos: son de madera de palma muy recia y<br />
de otros árboles 149 .<br />
The above quote from Oviedo describes <strong>the</strong> size, shape <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> bellicose use <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> macana as <strong>the</strong> weapon <strong>of</strong> choice among <strong>the</strong> <strong>Ta<strong>in</strong>o</strong> <strong>of</strong> Hispaniola. In <strong>the</strong> same<br />
chapter Oviedo states that <strong>the</strong> Carib preferred weapon was <strong>the</strong> arch <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> spear <strong>and</strong><br />
that <strong>the</strong> <strong>Ta<strong>in</strong>o</strong> favored <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> macana <strong>in</strong>stead.<br />
Chapter XIII, page 56<br />
y cómo entramos en el río de Tabasco y lo que en él pasamos con los caciques de<br />
aquel pueblo, y, en f<strong>in</strong>, entendió que nuestra dem<strong>and</strong>a era buscar oro, a trueque<br />
del rescate que traíamos; y <strong>to</strong>do se lo habían llevado p<strong>in</strong>tado en unos paños que<br />
hacen de henequén, que es como de l<strong>in</strong>o.<br />
The follow<strong>in</strong>g word <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> sequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> BDC’s text is henequén > ‘agabe<br />
plant’, also ‘rope’, ‘str<strong>in</strong>g’, ‘cord’. Although this word has been previously attributed <strong>to</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> Mayan kih > ‘a specie <strong>of</strong> agave’, if we do a comparative analysis with <strong>Ta<strong>in</strong>o</strong><br />
phonology, we could notice that this word is phonetically closer <strong>to</strong> Arawak related<br />
words. For example, <strong>in</strong> Guajíro—Wayuunaiki, eje-rü means ‘cord’ <strong>to</strong> hang <strong>the</strong><br />
149<br />
(Fernanadez de Oviedo, 1535 - 1557, p. 66)