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

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The next Taino word identified in BDC’s is the word jejenes > ‘small
mosquitoes. Although this word did not transcend in the mainland like many of its
counterparts, its significance on this text is purely linguistic. As it can be observed, there
seem to be variance in the spelling between the main text and the two other variances.
The other texts spell the word as xexenes > ‘mosquito’. However, this second spelling is
closer to the original Taino phonetic as described by Fray Bartolomé de Las Casa. In his
Apologetic History, this insect is described as follows:
Con todos los bienes y fertilidad questa provincia tiene, abunda de una poco
menos que plaga más que otra, y es de muchos mosquitos de los que los indios
llamaban xoxenes, que son tan chequítos que apenas con buenos ojos, estando
comiendo la mano y metiendo un agrijón que parece aguja recién quitada del
fuego, se ven. 156
Even de Las Casas in the quote above introduces a new lexicalization of the term
by spelling the term as xoxenes. This variance in the lexicalization seems to indicate a
level of insecurity of the correct pronunciation of the word. This tendency is common of
words whose usage is infrequent. This could explain its disappearance from the
mainland after the first few years. However, etymologically speaking this word seems to
be linked to the Yanomami hihu u na > ‘insect’ or to the term hiií > ‘mosquito bite’ or
the Arawak majorén > ‘insect’, ‘bug’. Nevertheless, the fact that BDC uses this spelling
is yet another hit to his familiarity with the Taino language.
Chapter CLVI, page 630
156
(De las Casas, 1566)