Spanish Words of Taino Origin

Quick Answer

In this article, we’ll discuss Spanish words of Taino origin, such as barbacoa(barbecue) and hamaca(hammock).

Questions This Article Answers

What is taíno?

Where was taíno spoken?

Are there Spanish words that come from taíno?

Taino Influence on Spanish

The tainos(Taino) were a pueblo arahuaco(Arawakan people) who historically inhabited what is now Cuba(Cuba), República Dominicana(Dominican Republic), Jamaica(Jamaica), Haití(Haiti), Puerto Rico(Puerto Rico), las Bahamas(the Bahamas), and las Antillas(the Antilles).

Taíno(Taino), the language spoken by los taínos, has been in contact with Spanish since the españoles(Spaniards) arrived in América(the Americas) in the late 15th century. Many of the words that the Spanish borrowed from taíno(Taino) are related to food, flora, fauna, and the sea.

Adaptations, Calques, and Loanwords

• A linguistic adaptación(adaptation) is a word or phrase taken from another language but adapted to the target language for phonologic, lexical, or syntactic reasons. For example, breeze is an adaptation of the Spanish word brisa.

• A calco(calque) is a word or phrase translated literally into another language. For example, roadrunner is a calque of the Spanish word correcaminos (correr: to run + caminos: roads).

• A préstamo lingüístico(loanword) is a word or phrase taken from another language and used in its original form. For example, patio is a loanword taken from Spanish.

Spanish Words of Taino Origin

The following words are tainismos(words of Taino origin adapted to Spanish).

Taino	Spanish	English
aší	ají	chili
barbacoa	barbacoa	barbecue
bohi	bohío	hut
borīkē	boricua	Puerto Rican
cay	cayo	cay, key
cazabí	cazabe	cassava bread
cubao	Cuba	Cuba
hayiti	Haití	Haiti
huacamayo	guacamayo	macaw
hurakā	huracán	hurricane
iwana	iguana	iguana
kaimán	caimán	caiman
kalino	caribe	Carib
kanowa	canoa	canoe
mahís	maíz	corn
manaty	manatí	manatee
piraua	piragua	pirogue, snow cone
taino	taíno	Taino
wanaban	guanábana	soursop
xaymaca	Jamaica	Jamaica

examples
Limpié la barbacoa. I cleaned the barbecue.
Viajó a Cuba y Jamaica. He traveled to Cuba and Jamaica.

Taino Loanwords in Spanish

The following list shows Taino préstamos lingüísticos(loanwords) used in Spanish.

batata	sweet potato
batú	batey (ball game)
carey	sea turtle
ceiba	ceiba tree
coa	hoe
guayaba	guava
güiro	guiro
hamaca	hammock
jaiba	crab
mamey	mammee
maní	peanut
sabana	savannah
tuna	prickly pear
yautía	yautia
yuca	yucca

examples
Compré maní y yucas. I bought peanuts and yucca.
Estaba en la hamaca leyendo un libro. She was on the hammock reading a book.

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