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

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+ sabra > Spanish corruption of sábila = guazábara > ‘thorny cacti’ or ‘aloe’. This was
a common occurrence of the pre-mainland colonial Spanish, so much so, that later in
the sequence of BDC text, page 29 to be precise, we are presented with another one of
those Taino—Spanish words, the toponym, Yaguarama used to refer to a town in
Cuba. This town is known today as Yaguaramas, which is the junction of the Taino word
yagua > ‘upper dry cortex of palm trees used for bohío making’ and the Spanish
ramas > ‘lieves’ with the plural s. Once again, this fusion of words was very common in
the Spanish spoken during pre-mainland invasion.
However, although the word seboruco was not added to the Spanish language
official word list until recently, the Academia Española now defines the term as a Cuban
word meaning ‘porous rocks’. It is surprising that it took the meaning of this word this
long to make it into the official dictionary when its definition was already established by
Bernal Diaz del Castillo as early as 1517 during the expedition of Francisco Hernandez
de Córdoba, described in the quote in question. In the text, BDC states that “they had to
walk along some rough terrains and seborucos, which are some rocks that cut the
soles of the feet”. It is remarkable that the writer of the text uses the term as a common
expression and later in the same sentence has the need to explain the meaning of the
term and emphasized “it is said that way” at least three times, as if writing for an
audience not yet familiarized with the term. It is also noticeable that by making that
note BCD seems to be hinting at a possible series of utterances that had become
normalized among the Spanish population of the islands, but yet known for the