Language of the Voiceless: Traces of Taino Language, Food, and Culture in the Americas From 1492 to the Present

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boa, manatee, piragua, carey, Quiskeya, among others, although part of Taino
vocabulary appeared to be adoptions from other previous and coexisting groups.
However, with regards to the word magüey, one of the earlier identifiable voices
that could be phonetically related to the prefix of this word was cited by de Las Casas
when describing a region in the center of Hispaniola as mawá > ‘fertile’ 155 . Another
possible connection to an etymon can be found in the Yanomami, mãhãwë hi > ‘tree’
and maharawë > ‘fruit of the palmetto’. Another possible etymon could be the
Wayuunaiki, maawüi > ‘cotton’. As it can be observed, in all of these genetically related
languages to the Taino that contain similar voices, the maw- ahu- we- wui is associated
with plants and fruits. On the other hand, the suffix ey was already associated with
Taino in words such as turéy > ‘sky’, atabey > ‘goddess of nature’. It could be argued
that, given the importance of the maguey plant in the manufacture of cabuya and
henequén and the Taino word for the ‘fruit of the cayuco cactus’ < tuna, these types
of plants played a very significant role in Taino culture.
Number of mentions of the word maguey in The True History of the
Conquest of New Spain including the cross reference of the three
manuscripts: 9
magüey:
Other Primary Sources mentions of the possible Taino origin of the word
a)— Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Apologética Historia Sumaria:
155
(De las Casas, 1566)