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

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23, 1533 were the encomendero Francisco Barrionuevo states that Baoruco was the
place were Indians and slaves were scaping from the Spanish in Española during the
early period of the conquest as early as 1505:
Siendo hombres podrian alzarse con esta isla ansi con indios como con negros porque en
este camino del Baoruco he hallado dos mestizos, uno con Enrique y otro con veinte
indios en la punta del Tiburón alzados y estos tales si se llevasen a esos reynos podrian
ser buenos cristianos.
The text above describes two different places with Taino names were the mestizos
and maroons were revolting against the Spanish led by the cacique Enrique: Baoruco
and Tiburón > ‘shark’. As a note, it is important to mention that the term tiburón in
turn is composed of the prefix tí previously identified as meaning high or intense e.g.
hai-tí, aji-ti-tí and the ending ua-ron is often associated with swimming or fish like
qualities e.g. camarón > ‘shrimp’. Yet, what is important about this primary source
quotation is the identification of the term Bahoruco with an ending phonetically
comparable to that of the axaruco described in Diaz’s text. Furthermore, this ruco
ending can also be found in the word cibaoruco (name of the central region of
Española, meaning terrain of river of rough rocks). Therefore, given the observations
above, with regards to the term Axaruco, it could be argued that due to its
commonality with other surviving Taino voices, plus the fact that Diaz del Castillo was
referring to a place in Cuba prior to his expedition to Mexico, this word should must
likely belong to the Taino language family.
It is also important to note that according the dictionary of the Real Academia
Española the ruco 74 ending of the term is used in modern day Central America to refer
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(Española, 2019)