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

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P a g e | 115 CHAPTER 4 | THE TIERRA FIRME: PENUMBRAS OF TAINO CULTURE AND PHOENETICS Thus far in this research, we have mostly concentrated in the etymology and the primary source context of Taino words in order to establish their pre-mainland existence. However, what comes next in the analysis of the text, are words and cultural customs that, although used in the mainland framework by Diaz del Castillo, were part of the Taino religion, social structure, culinary culture and cosmovison. It is astonishing that, apart from the word cacique, these elements did not come about until this section of the sequence of the text. Prior to this moment, the words and expressions used by BDC were mostly toponymies or general descriptions of utensils, plants, foods and general artifacts. Therefore, as we come across these cultural elements, instead of approaching them from the purely linguistic point of view, these elements are going to be analyzed from their historical and anthropological relation to primary sources. The linguistic analysis is only going to be employed if necessary or if there is no other way to establish the Taino connection to the term or custom. The disadvantage of this approach is its highly speculative essence. Whether the Taino connection or lack of it could be established or not, would depend on the supporting evidence. 1.1 Cúes. Our first observation is the variance and connotation found in the lexicalization of the word cúe or cu by Bernal Diaz del Castillo. It is important to note that the way this word is lexicalized by BDC has a very strong phonetic influence from the Spanish of
P a g e | 116 the epoch, but also from the Taino and Arawak related language’s pronunciation. These are examples of analogous Spanish phonetics that contain the sound cu: cueva, cúpula, cuerda, cuenta, cual, cúmulo, etc. However, in Taino we find similar sounds and synonymic meanings: cuao > ‘small mountain’, cuey > ‘sacred object’, cucuyo > ‘firefly”, maku > ‘enemy’, not friendly, Cuaba > ‘sacred mountain’. Therefore, whether by Spanish or Taino phonetic interpellation, BDC seems to lexicalize this term with a very heavy linguistic weight from a different language than the one he is trying to describe. In the text, this word is described in the following manner: fue a una casa de ídolos que estaba en un cerro, que ya he dicho que se dicen cúes, que es como quien dice casa de sus dioses; y en aquella casa halló muchos ídolos y copal, que es como resina con que sahuman, y cuchillos de pedernal, con que sacrificaban 159 . Here BDC associates the word with “mountains and with houses of gods where there are idols and where people are sacrificed with stone knifes”. It is very curious that cúes was the word of choice to describe any other altar or temple across the text. As a matter of fact, even when the people in question did not speak any Mayan related languages, Diaz del Castillos continued to employ the same lexicalization, at times, associating deities with this term, as it was the case of Huitzilopochtli > ‘Aztec god of war’, lexicalized as Huichilobos and Tezcatlipoca > ‘god of the smoking mirrors’, lexicalized as Tezcatepuca. One of the many examples of this tendency by BDC can be found in page 931 when he states that “huyendo, cuando subimos en el alto cu de Huichilobos”. Here BDC is referring to the “high temple cu of Huitzilopochtli”. Yet, at that moment in 159 (Diaz del Castillo, Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana| Aparato de Variantes, 1632)
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Language of the Voiceless: Traces o
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P a g e | 2 CHAPTER I | AN INTRODUC
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P a g e | 4 European languages such
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P a g e | 8 to describe constrictor
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P a g e | 10 Hammock: The Spanish c
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P a g e | 14 Once again, these word
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P a g e | 16 V Research Limitations
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P a g e | 18 cigar made out of the
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P a g e | 20 in the surviving cousi
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P a g e | 22 Pic.4 Hoyo de Sanabe C
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P a g e | 24 Higüera es árbol gra
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P a g e | 26 y los otros de allá a
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P a g e | 28 porque nacan quiere de
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P a g e | 30 of the mainland such a
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P a g e | 32 describe the name of t
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P a g e | 34 […] el gobernador de
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P a g e | 36 […] nos habíamos de
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P a g e | 38 island of the guano of
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P a g e | 40 significance because i
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P a g e | 42 paragraph, de Las Casa
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P a g e | 44 23, 1533 were the enco
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P a g e | 46 certain familiarity an
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P a g e | 48 ‘hanging’ and atab
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P a g e | 50 the different Arawak l
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P a g e | 52 a)—Mentions in a 151
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P a g e | 54 Diaz del Castillo in 1
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P a g e | 56 Y una mañana, que fue
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P a g e | 58 ‘not’ + guayacan >
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P a g e | 60 The above quote and il
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P a g e | 62 words did not make it
Page 65 and 66: P a g e | 64 other words meaning
Page 67 and 68: P a g e | 66 common item to give an
Page 69 and 70: P a g e | 68 assi, es entre las rel
Page 71 and 72: P a g e | 70 Con frutas de siguapas
Page 73 and 74: P a g e | 72 cacique, dijo por señ
Page 75 and 76: P a g e | 74 ‘uppermost’ + ya >
Page 77 and 78: P a g e | 76 differentiation of the
Page 79 and 80: P a g e | 78 chief of that place, w
Page 81 and 82: P a g e | 80 garden’. It is corre
Page 83 and 84: P a g e | 82 Pic.25 Pic.26 Pic.27 P
Page 85 and 86: P a g e | 84 y en esta Española, y
Page 87 and 88: P a g e | 86 into its etymology. Ho
Page 89 and 90: P a g e | 88 and a paragraph in Cha
Page 91 and 92: P a g e | 90 the place where this t
Page 93 and 94: P a g e | 92 Pic.33, 34 Taino trigo
Page 95 and 96: P a g e | 94 describing the term fr
Page 97 and 98: P a g e | 96 + sabra > Spanish corr
Page 99 and 100: P a g e | 98 the introduction of an
Page 101 and 102: P a g e | 100 Nonetheless, if we us
Page 103 and 104: P a g e | 102 However, what is impo
Page 105 and 106: P a g e | 104 hammock, sharing its
Page 107 and 108: P a g e | 106 y con muchos indios d
Page 109 and 110: P a g e | 108 The quote above is fr
Page 111 and 112: P a g e | 110 trees, but of high, a
Page 113 and 114: P a g e | 112 Éstas, por la lengua
Page 115: P a g e | 114 matase ni hiriese a n
Page 119 and 120: P a g e | 118 explain the prevalenc
Page 121 and 122: P a g e | 120 Pic.38 Duho distribut
Page 123 and 124: P a g e | 122 nytainos > ‘nobles
Page 125 and 126: P a g e | 124 am”, does not fit S
Page 127 and 128: P a g e | 126 (Nahuatl), tunuum (Mi
Page 129 and 130: P a g e | 128 after a battle won by
Page 131 and 132: P a g e | 130 This is relevant beca
Page 133 and 134: P a g e | 132 Yanomami of Venezuela
Page 135 and 136: P a g e | 134 linguistic registry o
Page 137 and 138: P a g e | 136 Additionally, if whil
Page 139 and 140: P a g e | 138 b) Encomienda system
Page 141 and 142: P a g e | 140 the Spanish who carri
Page 143 and 144: P a g e | 142 Casas, d. L. (2015).
Page 145 and 146: P a g e | 144 (2007). Caribbean Stu
Page 147: P a g e | 146 Robiou Lamarche, S. (
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Language of the Voiceless: Traces of Taino Language, Food, and Culture in the Americas From 1492 to the Present

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