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THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
IN ITS
Linguistic and Ethnological Relations.
By D. Q. ]3RINTON, M. D.
PHILADELPHIA:
McCALLA & STAVELY, PRINTEKS.
237-fl Dock Street.
1871.
• Ct'j'-'t it.'
THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
IN ITS
LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS.
BY D. G. BRINTON, M. D.
The Arawacks are a tribe of Indians who at present dwell in British and Dutch Guiana, between the Corentyn
and Pomeroon rivers. They call themselves simply lukkunu, men, and only their neighbors apply to them the con-
temptuous name aruae (corrujited by Europeans into Aroaquis, Arawaaks, Aroacos, Arawacks, etc.), meal-eaters,
from their peaceful habit of gaining an important article of diet from the amylaceous pith of the Mauritia flexuom
palm, and the edible root of the cassava plant.
They number only about two thousand souls, and may seem to claim no more attention at the hands of the
ethnologist than any other obscure Indian tribe. But if it can be shown that in former centuries they occupied the
whole of the West Indian archipelago to within a few miles of the shore of the northern continent, then on the question
whether their aflSUations are with the tribes of the northern or southern mainland, depends our opinion of the course
of migration of the primitive inhabitants of the western world. And if this is the tribe whose charming simplicity
Columbus and Peter Martyr described in such poetic language, then the historian will acknowledge a desire to
acquaint himself more closely with its past and its pi-esent. It is my intention to show that such was their former
geographical position.
While in general features there is nothing to distinguish them from the red race elsewhere, they have strong
national traits. Physically they are rather undersized, averaging not over five feet four inches in height, but strong-
limbed, agile, and symmetrical. Their foreheads are low, their noses more allied to the Aryan types than usual with
their race, and their skulls of that form defined by craniologists as orthognathic brachycephalic.
From the earliest times they have borne an excellent character. Hospitable, peace-loving, quick to accept the
humbler arts of civilization and the simpler precepts of Christianity, they have ever offered a strong contrast to their
neighbors, the cruel and warlike Caribs. They are not at all prone to steal, lie, or drink, and their worst faults are
an addiction to blood-revenge, and a superstitious veneration for their priests.
They are divided into a number of families, over fifty in all, the genealogies of which are carefully kept in the
female line, and the members of any one of which are forbidden to intermarry. In this singular institution they
resemble many other native tribes.
LANGUAGE.
The earliest specimen of their language under its present name is given by Johannes de Laet in his No-ciis Orbis,
seu Deacriptio India Occidentalis (Liigd. Bat. 1633). It was obtained in 1598. In 1738 the Moravian brethren
founded several missionary stations in the country, but owing to various misfortunes, the last of their posts was given
up in 1808. To them we owe the only valuable monuments of the language in existence.
Their first instructor was a mulatto boy, who assisted them in translating into the Arawack a life of Christ. I
cannot learn that this is extant. Between 1748 and 1755 one of the missionaries, Tlieophilus Schumann, composed a
dictionaiy, DeuUeh- Arawakiscliea Wm'lerhunh, and a grammar, Deutsch-Arawakuehe SprarMehre, which have i-emained
44284f»
c/« ^ r € <
';.''*•.'';
:;; the AEAWACK language of GUIANA
in manuscript in the libraiy of the Moravian community at Paramaribo. Scliumann died in 1760, and as he was the
first to compose such works, tlie manuscript dictionary in the possession of Bishop WuUschliigel, erroneously refen-ed
by tlie late Professor von Martins to the first decade of the last century, is no doubt a copy of Schumann's.
In 1807 another missionary, C. Quandt, published a NachricM von Surinam, the appendix to which contains the
best published grammatical notice of the tongue. The author resided in Surinam from 1709 to 1780.
Unquestionably, however, the most complete and accurate information in existence concerning both the verbal
wealth and grammatical stnicture of the language, is contained in the manuscripts of the Rev. Theodore Bchultz, now
in the library of the American Philosophical Society. Mr. Shultz was a Moravian missionary, who was stationed
among the Arawacks from 1790 to 1802, or thereabout. The manuscripts referred to are a dictionary and a grammar.
The former is a quarto volume of 622 pages. The first 535 pages comprise an Arawack-German lexicon, the
remainder is an appendix containing the names of ti-ees, stars, birds, insects, grasses, minerals, places, and tribes.
The grammar, Orammattikaluche Siitze von der Aruwakkuchen Sprache, is a 12mo volume of 173 pages, left in an
unfinished condition. Besides these he left at his death a translation of the Acts of the Apostles, which was pub-
lished in IS.'iO by the American Bible Society under the title Act ApoUelnu. It is from these hitherto unused sources
that I design to illusti-ate the character of the language, and study its former extension. '
PHONETICS.
The Arawack is described as "the softest of all the Indian tongues." ^ It is rich in vowels, and free from
gutturals. The enunciation is distinct and melodious. As it has been reduced to writing by Germans, the German
value must be given to the letters employed, a fact which must always be borne in mind in comparing it with the
neighboring tongues, nearly all of which are written with the Spanish orthography.
The Arawack alphabet has twenty letters : a, b, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, 1, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, w.
Besides these, they have a semi- vowel written , the sound of which in words of the masculine gender approaches
1, in those of the neuter gender r. The o and u, and the t and d, are also frequently blended. The w has not the
Gei-man but the soft English sound, as in we. The German dipthongs se, ce, eu, ei, u, are employed. The accents
are the long ", the acute ', and that indicating the emphasis '. The latter is usually placed near the commencement
of the word, and must be carefully observed.
NOUNS.
Like most Indians, the Arawack rarely uses a noun in the abstract. An object in his mind is always connected
with some person or thing, and this connection is signified by an aflix, a suffix, or some change in the original form
of the word. To this inile there are some exceptions, as ba7iu a house, siba a stone, hidru a woman. Ddddikdn hiaru,
I see a woman. Such nouns are usually roots. Those derived from verbal roots are still more rarely employed inde-
pendently.
Numbers. The plural has no regular teiTnination. Often the same form serves for both luimbers, as is the ca.se
in many English words. Thus, itime fish and fishes, sibd stone and stones, kdnsiti a lover and lovers. The most
common plural endings are ati, uti, and anu, connected to the root by a euphonic letter ; as njti mother, vjunvti
mothers, itii father, itiinaii fathers, kansissia a loved one, kansissiannu loved ones.
Of a dual there is no trace, nor does there seem to be of what is called the American plural (exclusive or in-
clusive of those present). But there is a peculiar plural form with a singular signification in the language, which is
1 since readliiK this article before the Society, Prof, S. S. HaUleman has shown me a copy of a work with the title : " Die Geschichte cun der Marterwoche,
A^/eratehung und Ifimmeyahrtitnsers /lerrnmul J/eitaiutee JeHii ChriHti, Uehernetzt in die Aruwackiache Sprache wid erklarend uiiiechrieben. Phihiilelphid : Ged-
ruekl lien Curl List, 1799," 8vo. pages 213, then one blank leaf, then 40 pages of " Anmerkungen." There Is also a second title. In Arawack, and neither title
page Is included In the pagination. The Arawack title begins: " Wadaijahun w'uueaada-goanti, Wappmitida-tfonnti btuidia Jeawt Chriatxta," etc. The remarks
at the end are chlerty grammatical and critical, and contain many valuable hints to the student of the language. I have no doubt this book Is the Life of
Christ mentioned In the tCKt. The nameof the translator creditor is nowhere mentioned, but I have no doubt Mr. Schultz wrote the " Anmerkungen," and
read the proof, as not only are his grammatical signs and orthography adopted throughout, but also we know from other sources that he was In Philadelphia
at that time.
2 Brett, ne Indirin Triheii ,,/ nuiimc, p. li; (Lonilon, ISIlS).
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 3
worthy of note. An example will illustrate it ; iiti is father, plural ittinati ; loallinati is our father, not our fathers,
as the form would seem to signify. In other words, singular nouns used with plural pronouns, or construed with
several other nouns, take a plural form. Petrus Johannes mutii ujilnatu, the mother of Peter and John.
Gekdeus. a peculiarity, which the Arawack shares with the Iroquois ^ and other aboriginal languages of the
Western continent, is that it only has two genders, and these not the masculine and feminine, as in Fi-onch, but the
masculine and neuter. Man or nothing was the motto of these barbarians. Regarded as an index of their mental
and social condition, this is an ominous fact. It hints how utterly destitute they are of those high, chivalric feelings,
which with us centre around woman.
The termination of the masculine is i, of the neuter m, and, as I have already observed, a permutation of the
.semi-vowels I and r takes place, the letter becoming I in the masculine, r in the neuter. A slight diBerence in many
words is noticeable when pronounced by women or by men. The former would say herelin, to marry ; the latter
kerejun. The gender also appears by more than one of these changes : ipillin, great, strong, masculine ; ipirrun,
feminine and neuter.
There is no article, either definite or indefinite, and no declension of nouns.
PRONOUNS.
The demonstrative and possessive personal pronouns are alike in form, and, as in other American languages, are
in*;imately incorporated with the words with which they are construed. A single letter is the root of each : d I, mine,
b thou, thine, I he, his, t she, her, it, its, w we, our, h you, your, n they, their ; to these radical letters the indefinite
pronoun Ukkuahu, somebody, is added, and by abbreviation the following forms are obtained, which are those usually
current :
dakia, dai, I.
bokkia, bui, thou.
likia, he.
turreha, she, it.
wakia, wai, we.
hukia, hui, you.
nakia, nai, they.
Except the third person, singular, they are of both genders. In speaking, the abbreviated form is used, except where
for emphasis the longer is chosen.
In composition they usually retain their first vowel, but this is entirely a question of euphony. The methods of
their employment with nouns will be seen in the following examples :
iissiquaJiu, a house,
dassiqua, my house,
biissiqua, • thy house.
Kissiqua, bis house.
tiissiqua, her, its house,
w&ssiqua, our house.
hiissiqua, your house,
nfesiqua, their house.
vju, mother,
daiju, my mother.
buju, thy mother.
3 Etudes Phitolor/iquei sur qwAquet Langaca Sauvat/ee de CAmeriqtie, p. 87 (Montreal, 1866).
4 THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
liijii, bis mother,
tiiju, lier raother.
waijuuattu, our mother,
hujuattu, your mother,
naijattu, their niotlier.
waijuiniti, our motliers.
luijunuti, your mothers,
naijunuti, their mothers.
Many of these forms suffer elision in speaking. Itli fixther, datti my fatlier, wattinalli our father, contracted to
waUinti (tcatti rarely used).
When thus construed with pronouns, most nouns undergo some change of form, usually by adding an affix ;
bdru an axe, ddbarim my axe. Mi tobacco, dajuUU my tobacco.
ADJECTIVES.
The verb is the primitive part of speech in American tongues. To the aboriginal man every person and object
presents itself as either doing or suffering somothhig, every quality and attribute as something -which is taking place
or existing. His philosophy is that of tlie extreme idealists or the extreme materialists, -(vho alike maintain that
nothing u, beyond the cognizance of our.seuses. Therefore his adjectives are all verbal participles, indicating a state
of existence. Thus Ustsalu good, is from iiudn to be good, and means the condition of being good, a good woman or
thing, iiuati a good man.
Some adjectives, principally those from present participles, have the masculine and neuter terminations i and u
in the singular, and in the plural i for both genders. Adjectives from the past participles end in the singular in mla
or iisiia, in the plural in annn. When the masculine ends in illi, the neuter takes urru, as icadikilli, wadikurru,
long.
Comparison is expressed by adding ben or ken or adin (a verb meaning to be above) for the comparative, and
apiidi for the diminutive. Ubura, from the verb uburau to be before in time, and adiki, from adikin to be after in
time, are also used for the same purpose. The superlative has to be expressed by a circumlocutiou ; as tumaqua
aditu ipirrun tiirreha, what is great beyond all else ; bokkia iiud dduria, thou art better than I, where the last word
is a compound of dai uwuria of, from, than. The comparative degree of the adjectives corresponds to the intensive
and frequentative forms of the verbs; thus ipirrun to be strong, ipirru strong, ipirrub'n and ipirrubessabun to be
stronger, ipirrubetu and ipirnihesaabulu stronT;er, that which is stronger.
The numerals are wonderfully simple, and well illustrate how the primitive man began his arithmetic. They
are : —
1 abba.
3 biama, plural biamannu.
3 kabbuhtn, plural kubbuhininnu.
4 bibiti, plural bibitinu.
5 abbatekk4be, plural abbatekabbunu.
6 abbatiman, plural abbatimanninu.
7 biamattiman, plural biamattimannlnu.
8 kabbuhintiman, plural kabbuliintimanninu.
9 bibiciman, plural bibititumanninu.
10 biamantek&bbe, plural biamantekAbunu.
Now if we analyze these words, we discover that abbalekkdbe five, is simply abba one, and akkabu hand ; that the
word for six is literally "one [finger] of the other [hand]," for seven "two [fingers] of the other [hand]," and so
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS.
on to ten, which is compounded of biama two, and akkdbu hands. Would they count eleven, they say ahba kutihibena
one [toe] from the feet, and for twenty the expression Is abba lukku one man, both hands and feet. Thus, in truth,
they have only four numerals, and it is even a question whether these are primitive, for kabhuTiin seems a strength-
ened form of abba, and bihiiti to bear the same relation to biama. Therefore we may look back to a time when this
nation knew not how to express any numbers beyond one and two.
Although these numbers do not take peculiar terminations when applied to different objects, as in the languages
of Central America and Mexico, they have a great vai-iety of forms to express the relationship in which they are used.
The ordinals are :
atenennuati, first.
ibiamatteti, . second.
wakdbbuhinteti, -our third, etc
To the question. How many at a time ? the answer is : '
likinnekewai, '•ne alone,
biamanuman, two at a time, etc.
If simply, How many ? it is :
abbahu, «ne.
biamahu, two.
If, For which time ? it is :
tibiakuja, for the first time,
tibiamattetu, for the .second time.
and so on.
VERBS.
The verbs are sometimes derived from nouns, sometimes from participles, sometimes from other verbs, and have
reflexive, passive, frequentative, and other f jrms. Thus from lana, the name of a certain black dye, comes lannatiln
to color with this dye, alannatunna to color oneself with it, alannattukuUun to let oneself be colored with it, alanatlu-
kuitunnua to be colored with it.
The infinitive ends in in, Un, un, dn, nnnua, en, and un. Those in in, an, tin, and <f» are transitive, in unnua
are passive and neater, the otherji ai-e transitive, intransitive, or neuter.
The passive voice is formed by the medium of a verb of permission, tlius :
amalitiu, to make,
amalitikittin, to let make,
araalitikittunnua, to be made,
assimakin, to call,
assimakuttiin, to let call,
assimakuttunnua, to be called.
The personal pronouns are united to the verbs as they are to the nouns. They precede all verbs except those
whose infinitives terminate in en, in, and ttn, to which they are suffixed as a rule, but not always. Wlien they follow
the verb, the forms of the pronouns are either de, bu, i he, n she, it, u, hu, je or da, ba, la, ta, loa, lia, na. The latter
are used chiefly where the negative prefix m, ma or maya is employed. Examples :
hallikebben, to rejoice,
hallikebbede, I rejoice,
hallikebbebu, thou rejoicest.
THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
liallikcbbei,
hallikebbuii,
liallikebbiju,
balUkobbchu,
liallikebbeje,
maj&uquada,
majduquaba,
niajduquala,
iiiajduquata,
majduquawa,
maj&uquaba,
majduquana.
niajauquan, to remain.
he rejoices.
she rejoices,
we rejoice,
you rejoice,
they rejoice.
I remain,
tliou remainest.
he remains,
she remain^,
we remain,
you remain,
they remain.
Moods akd Texses. Their verbs have (bur niootls, tlie indicative, optative, impeiative, and infinitive, and five
tenses, one present, three preterites, and one future. Tlie rules of their foimation are simple. By changing the
termination of the infinitive into a, we have the indicative present, into bi the first preterite, into buna the second
preterite, into kttba the third preterite, and into j«i the future. The conjugations are six in number, and many of
the verbs are irregular. The following verb of the first conjugation illustrates the general rules for conjugation ;
ayahaddin,
Present tense ;
Indicative Mood.
dayahadda,
bujahadda,
lujahadda,
ti^aliadda,
wayahadda,
hujahddda,
nayubadda.
First preterite — of to-day :
dayahdddibi,
bujahdddibi,
lijahaddibi,
tujab&ddibi,
wayahaddibi,
hujahaddibi,
nayahaddibi,
Second pi'eteritc — of yesterday or the day before.
dayahaddibiina,
bujahaddibiina,
lijahiddibuna,
tujahaddibiina,
wayahaddibiina,
bujahaddibiina,
nayaliaddibiina,
to walk.
I walk,
thou walkest.
he walks,
she walks,
we walk,
you walk,
they walk.
I walked to-day.
thou walked to-day.
he walked to-day.
she walked to-day.
we walked to-day.
you walked to-day.
they walked to-day.
I walked yesterday or the day before,
thou walked yesterday or the day before,
he walked yesterday or the day before,
she walked yesterday or the day before,
we walked yesterday or the day before,
you walked yesterday or the day before,
they walked yesterday or the day before.
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS.
Third preterite — at some intlefinite past time :
dayahaddakuba,
bujaliSddakuba,
lijalidddakuba,
tujah&ddakuba,
wayaliiddakuka,
liujah&ddakuba,
nayaliSddakuba,
Future :
Present :
First preterite :
Second preterite
Tliird preterite :
dayali&ddipa,
bujahaddipa,
lijali&ddipa,
tujah&ddipa,
wayali^ddipa,
hujabaddipa,
nayaliaddipa,
Optative Mood.
dayahaddama or dayaliaddinnika,
dayaliaddinnik&bima.
dayahaddinbun&nia.
dayahaddinnikubAma.
Imperative Mood.
bujahaddate or bujahaddalte,
hiijahaddiite or Inijabaddalte,
nayabadd&te,
wayaliaddali,
ayahaddinnibi,
ayahaddinnibiina,
ayaliaddinnikuba,
ayaliaddinnipa,
ayahaddinti.
ayabaddinnibia.
The following forms also belong to this verb :
ayahaddinnibiakub&ma,
ayahaddah&lin,
Participles.
Gerund.
I walked,
thou walked,
he walked.
she walked,
we walked,
you walked,
they walked.
I shall walk,
thou wilt walk,
he will walk,
she will walk,
we shall walk,
you will walk,
they will walk.
I may walk.
walk thou,
walk ye.
let them walk,
let us walk.
to have walked to-day.
to have walked yesterday,
to have walked,
to be about to walk.
to may or can walk.
one who walks there (infinitive form).
As in all polysynthetic languages, other words and particles can be incorporated in the verb to modify its
meaning, thus :
dayahadd&ruka, as I was walking.
dayahaddakanika, . I walk a little.
dayahaddahittika, I walk willingly.
C THE 4RAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
In this way sometimes words of formidable length are manufactured, as :
massukussukuttuunuanikaebibu, you should not have been washed to-day.
Negation may be expressed either by the prefix m or ma, as mayahaddinikade, I do not walk (where the prefix
throws the pronoun to the end of the word, and gives it the form appropriate for that position), or else by the adverb
kurru, not. But if both these negatives are used, they make an affirmative, as madittinda kurru OoU, I am not
unacquainted with God.
COMPOSITION OF WORDS AND SENTENCES.
"In general," remarks Prof. Von Martins, "this language betrays the poverty and cumbrousness of other South
American languages; yet in many expressions a glimpse is caught of a far reaching, ideal background." * We see
it in the composition and derivation of some words ; from haikan to pass by, comes haikahu death, the passing
away, and aiihaku marriage, in which, as in death, the girl is lost to her parents ; from kassan to be pregnant, comes
kassaku the firmament, big with all things which arc, and kasmlm beliU, the house of the firmament, the sky, the
day ; from iikkii the heart, CQmes iikkUrahu the family, the tribe, those of one blood, whose hearts beat in unison, and
ukiiahii a person, one whose heart beats and who therefore lives, and also, singularly enough, ukkilrahii pus, no doubt
from that strange analogy which in so many other aboriginal languages and myths identified the product of suppu-
ration with the semen maseulinum, the physiological germ of life.
The syntax of the language is not clearly set forth by any authorities. Adjectives generally, but not always,
follow the words they qualify, and prepositions are usually placed after the noun, and often at the end of a sentence ;
thus, peru (Spanish perro) assimakaka naha d, the dog barks her at. To display more fully the character of the
tongue, I shall quote and analyze a verse from the Acl Apostelnu, the 11th verse of the 14th chapter, which in the
English Protestant version reads :
And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia,
The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.
In Arawack it is :
Addikittl uijuhu Paulus anissiiibiru, kakannakiiku na assimaka,ka hiirkuren Lycaonia adidn uUukku hiddin :
Amallitakoananutti lukkunu dia na bute wakkarruhu, nattukuda aijumiineria wibiti hinna.
Literally :
They — seeing (addin to see, gerund) the — people Paulus what — ^had been done (anin to do, anissia to have
been done), loudly they called altogether the — Lycaonia speech in, thus. The — ^gods (present participle of amalUtin to
make ; the same appellation which the ancient Greeks gave to poets, ~i>iriTM makers, the Arawacks applied to the
divine powers) men like, us to now (baU nota pra3seutis) are — come — down from — above — down — here ourselves
because — of.
AFFILIATIONS OF THE ARAWACK.
The Arawacks are essentially of South American origin and affiliations. The earliest explorers of the mainland
report them as living on the rivers of Guiana, and having settlements even south of the Equator.' De Laet in his
map of Guiana locates a large tribe of "Arowaccas" three degrees south of the line, on the right bank of the
Amazon. Dr. Spix during his travels in Brazil met with fixed villages of them near Foiiteboa, on the river Solimoes
and near Tabatinga and Castro d' Avelaes.^ Tliey extended westward beyond the mouth of the Orinoco, and we even
hear of them in the province of Santa Marta, in the mountains south of Lake Maracaybo.^
While their language has great verbal differences from the Tupi of Brazil aud the Carib, it has also many verbal
* BnUi-aye zar JSthnograpfiU und Sj^rachenkande Amtrika's zumal BrasilUns, B. I., p. 705 (Leipzig, 1867).
5 De Laet, Nooun Orbis, lib. xvii., cap. vi.
« Martins, Bthnographie uiid Sprachenkunde Amerika^s, B. I., S. 687.
' Antonio Julian, La Perla de la America, la Provincia de Santa Marta, p. 149.
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. V
similarities witli both. "The Arawack and the Tupi," observes Professor Von Martins, "are ahke in their syntax,
in their use of the possessive and personal pronouns, and in their frequent adverbial construction ;" ' and iu a letter
written me shortly before his death, he remarks, in speaking of the similarity of these three tongues : " Ich bin
iiberzeugt dass diese [die Cariben] eine Elite der Tupis waren, welche erst spiit auf die Antilleii gekomraen sind, wo
die alte Tupi — Sprache in kaum erkennbaren Resten iibrig war, als man sie dort aufzeichnete." I take pleasure in
bringing forward this opinion of the great naturalist, not only because it is not expressed so clearly in any of his
published writings, but because his authority on this question is of the greatest weight, and because it supports the
view which I have elsewhere advanced of the migrations of the Arawack and Carib tribes.^ These "hardly recog-
nizable remains of the Tupi tongue," we shall see belonged also to the ancient Arawack at an epoch when it was
less divergent than it now is from its primitive form. While these South American affinities are obvious, no relation-
ship whatever, either verbal or syntactical, exists between the Arawack and the Maya of Yucatan, or the Cbahta-
Mvskoki of Florida and the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
As it is thus rendered extremely probable that the Arawack is closely connected with the great linguistic families
of South America, it becomes of prime importance to trace its extension northward, and to determine if it is in any
way affined to the tongues spoken on the West India Islands, when tliese were first discovered.
The Arawacks of to-day when asked concerning their origin point to the north, and claim at some not very
remote time to have lived at Kairi, an island, by which generic name they mean Trinidad. This tradition is in a
measure proved correct by the narrative of Sir Walter Baleigh, who found them living there in 1595,'° and by the
Belgian explorers who in 1598 collected a short vocabulary of their tongue. This oldest monument of the language
has sufficient interest to deserve copying and comparing with the modern dialect. It is as follows :
LATfN. Arawack, 1598. Abawack, 1800.
pater, pilplii, itti.
mater, saeckee, uju.
caput, wassijehe, waseye.
auris, wadycke, wadihy.
oculus, wackosije, wakusi.
, nasus, wassyerii, wasiri.
OS, dalerocke, daliroko.
dentes, darii, dari.
crura, dadane, dadaanah.
pedes, dackosye, dakuty.
arbor, hada, adda.
arcus, seraarape, semaara-haaba.
sagittse, symare, semaara.
luna, cattehel, katsi.
sol, adaly, hadalli.
The syllables wa our, and dn my, prefixed to the parts of the human body, will readily be recognized . When it
is remembered that the dialect of Trinidad no doubt differed slightly from that on the mainland ; that the modern
orthography is German and that of De Laet's list is Dutch ; and that two centuries intervened between the first
and second, it is really a matter of surprise to discover such a close similarity. Father and mother, the only two
words which are not identical, are doubtless diflferent expressions, relationship in this, as in most native tongues,
being indicated with excessive minuteness.
The chain of islands which extend from Trinidad to Porto Rico were called, from their inhabitants, the Caribby
islands. The Caribs, however, made no pretence to have occupied them for any great length of time. They dis-
' Klhnograpkie, etc., B. I., S. 714.
» The Myths of the New World ; a Treatise on the Symhulism and Myihohjjy of the Red Race qf America, p. 32 (New York, I86«).
10 The DiscoverU of Guiana, p 4 (Hackluyt, Soc, London, 1842).
10 THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
tinctly remembered that a generation or two back they had reached them from tlie mainland, and had found them
occupied by a peaceful race, whom they styled Inert or Igneri. The males of this race they slew or drove into the
interior, but the women tliey seized for their own use. Hence arose a marked difference between the languages of
the island Caribs and their women. The fragments of the language of the latter show clearly that they were of
Arawack lineage, and that the so-called Igneri were members of that nation. It of course became more or less
corrupted by the introduction of Carib words and forms, so that in 1674 the missionary De la Borde wrote, that
"although there is some difference between the dialects of the men and women, they readily understand each
other ;" " and Father Breton in his Carib Grammar (1665) gives the same foi-ms for the declensions and conjugations
of both.
As the traces of the "island Arawack," as the tongue of the Igneri may be called, prove the extension of this
tribe over all the Lesser Antilles, it now remains to inquire whether they had pushed their conquests still further, and
had possessed themselves of the Great Antilles, tlie Bahama islands, and any part of the adjacent coasts of Yucatan
or Florida.
All ancient writers agree that on the Bahamas and Cuba the same speech prevailed, except Gomara, who avers
that on the Bahamas "great diversity of language " was found. '^ But as Gomara wrote nearly half a century after
these islands were depopulated, and has exposed himself to just censure for carelessness in his statements regarding
the natives," his expression has no weight. Colvimbus repeatedly states that all the islands had one language though
differing, more or less, in words. The natives he took with him from San Salvador understood the dialects in both
Cuba and Haiti. One of them on his second voyage served him as an interpreter on the southern shore of Cuba.'*
In Haiti, thei« was a tongue current all over the Lsland, called by the Spaniards la lengua universal and la
lengua cortesana. This is distinctly said by all the historians to have been but very slightly different from that of
Cuba, a more dialectic variation in accent being observed.'' Many fragments of this tongue are preserved in the
narratives of the early explorers, and it has been the theme for some strange and wild theorizing among would-be
philologists. Rafinesque christened it the " Taino " language, and discovered it to be closely akin to the " Pelasgic " of
Europe.'^ The Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg will have it allied to the Maya, the old Nor.se or Scandinavian, the ancient
Coptic, and what not. Rafinesque and Jegor von Sivors'^ have made vocabularies of it, but the former in so uncritical,
and the latter in so superficial a manner, that they are worse than useless.
Although it is said there were in Haiti two other tongues in the small contiguous i)rovinces of Macorix de arriba
and Macorix de abajo, entirely dissimilar from the lengua universal and from each other, we are justified in assuming
that the prevalent tongue throughout the whole of the Great Antilles and the Bahamas, was that most common in
Haiti. I have, therefore, perused with care all the early authorities who throw any light upon the construction and
vocabulary of this language, and gathered from their pages the scattered information they contain. The most valu-
able of these authorities are Peter Martyr de Angleria, who speaks from conversations with natives brought to Spain
by Columbus, on his first voyage, '* and who was himself, a fine linguist, and Bartolome de las Casas. The latter came as
a missionary to Haiti, a few years after its discovery, was earnestly interested in the natives, and to some extent
acquainted with their language. Besides a few printed works of small importance. Las Casas left two large and
valuable works in manusciipt, the Ilistoria General de las Jndias Occidentales, and the Tlistoria Apologetica de las
Indias Occideniales. A copy of these, each in four large folio volumes, exists in the Library of Congress, where I
11 Relation de VOritjine, etc.. defi Caraibes, p. 39 (Paris. 1674).
12 "Havha mas policia entre ellos [los Lucayos.J 1 mucha diversidad de Lengiias."' Hist, de las Indias, cap. 41.
13 Las Casas, in the Nigtoria General de las Indias Occid, lib- in, cap. 27, criticizes blni severely.
1* Columbus savs of the Balianias and Cuba; " toda la lengua es una y todos amigos" (Navarrote, Viaye*. Tonio I, p, 46.) The natives of Guanahanl
conversed with those of Haiti "porque todos tcnian una lengua," (»i<', p. 86.) In the Bay of Samanaa different dialect but the same language was found (p, 135).
m Gomara says the language of Cuba is "algodi versa," from that of Espanola. (Iiist.de his Ivdias. cap, 41,) Ovledo says that though the natives of the two
inlands dlfter In many words, yet they readily understand each other. (Hist, de las Indias. lib, xvil, cap. 4.)
" The American Nations, chop, tip, (Philadelphia, 1S36.)
17 Cuba, die Perle der Antillxn, p. 72. (Leipzig, 1851.) The vocabulary contains 33 words, "axis dem Cubanischen,^' Many are incorrect both In spelling and
pronunciation.
'' When Columbus returned Irom his first voyage, lie brought with him ten natives from the Bay of Saniana in Hayti, and afew from Ouanahani.
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 11
consulted them. They contain a vast amount of information relating to the aborigines, especially the Historia
Apologeiica, though much of the author's space is occupied with frivolous discussions and idle comparisons.
In later times, the scholar who has most carefully examined the relics of this ancient tongue, is Seiior Don
Estev<in Richardo, a native of Haiti, but who for many years resided in Cuba. His views are contained in the
preface to his Dt'cctoraano Provincial casi-razonado de Voces Cubanas, (Habana, 2da ed, 1849). He has found very
many words of the ancient language retained in the provincial Spanish of the island, but of course in a corrupt form.
In the vocabulary which I have prepared for the purpose of comparison, I have omitted all such corrupted forms, and
nearly all names of plants and animals, as it is impossible to identify these with certainty, and in order to obtain
greater accuracy, have used, when possible, the first edition of the authors quoted, and inmost instances, given under
each word a reference to some original authority.
From the various sources which I have examined, the alphabet of the lengua universal appears to have been as
follows: a, b, d, e, (rarely used at the commencement of a word), g, j, (an aspirated guttural like the Catalan j, or
as Peter Martyr says, like the Arabic ch), i (rare), 1 (rare), m, n, o (rare,) p, q, r, s, t, u, y. These letters, it will be
remembered, are as in Spanish.
The Spanish sounds z, ce, ci (English th, ) 11, and v, were entirely unknown to the natives, and whei'e they appear
in indigenous words, were falsely written for 1 and b. The Spaniards also frequently distorted the native names by
writing X for j, s, and z, by giving j the sound of the Latin y, and by confounding h, j, and f, as the old writers fre-
quently employ the h to designate the spiritus asper, whereas in modern Spanish it is mute."
Peter Martyr found that he could reduce all the words of their language to writing, by means of the Latin letters
without diffioilty, except in the single instance of the guttural j. He, and all others who heard it spoken, describe
it as "soft and not less liquid than the Latin," "rich in vowels and pleasant to the ear," an idiom " simple, sweet,
and sonorous. "2°
In the following vocabulary I have not altered in the least the Spanish orthography of the words, and so that the
analogy of many of them might at once be preceived, I have inserted the corresponding Arawack expression, which,
it must be borne in mind, is to be pronounced by the German alphabet.
Vocabulary of the Ancient Language of the Great Antilles.
Aji, red pepper. Arawack, achi, red pepper.
Aon, dog (Las Casas, Hist. Gen. lib. I, c. 120). Island Ar. dnli, dog.
Arcabuco, a wood, a spot covered with trees (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. de las Indias, lib. VI, c, 8). Ar. arragkaragTcadin
the swaying to and fro of trees.
Areito, a song chanted alternately by the priests and the people at their feasts. (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. V, c. 1.)
Ar. aririn to name, rehearse.
Bagua, the sea. Ar. bara, the sea.
Bajaraque, a large house holding several hundred persons. From this comes Sp. barraca, Eng. barracks. Ar.
baju, a house.
Bajari, title applied to sub-chiefs ruling villages, (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. oaj). 120). Probably "house-ruler,"
from Ar. baju, house.
Barbacoa, a loft for drying maize, (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. VII, cap. 1). From this the English barbacue. Ar.
burrabakoa, a place for storing provisions.
" See the remarks of Richardo in the Prologo to his Dlccionario Provincial.
20 The remarlis of Peter Martyr are ; "posse omnium iiiarum linguani nostris literis Latinis, sine uiio discrimine, scribl compertum est," (D« fleiiij*
Oceaniris tt Novo Orbe, Decades Tres, p. 9.) " Advertendum est, nuliam Inesse adspirationem vocabulis eorum, quae non habeat eflectum literae consonantis ;
Immograviusadspiratiouem proferunt, quam nos f consonantem. Profereudumque est quicquid est adspiratum eodum halitu quo f, aed minima admoto ad
Auperiores dentes Inferiore labello, ore aut aperto ha, he hi, ho, hu, et concusso pectore. Hebraeos et Arabicos eodem modo suas proferre adspirationes
vldcs," (id. pp. 285, 286.)
12 THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
Batay, a ball-ground ; bates, the ball; batey, the game. (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. c. 204). Ar. battatan, to be
round, spherical.*'
Batea, a trough. (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. c. 241.)
Bejique, a priest. Ar. piaye, a priest.
Bixa, an ointment. (I^as Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 241.)
Cai, cayo, or cayco, an island. Prom this the Sp. eayo, Eng. key, in the "Florida keys." Ar. kairi, an island.
Caiman, an alligator, Ar. k/iiman, an alligator, lit. to be strong.
Caona or cauni, gold. (Pet. Martyr, Decad. p. 26, Ed. Colon, 1564). Ar. kaijaunan, to be precious, costly.
Caracol, a conch, a univalve shell. From this the Sp. caracal. (Richardo, Dice. Provin. s. v). Probably from
Galibi caracoulis, trifles, ornaments. (See Martius, Sprachenkunde, B. ii, p. 332.)
Caney or cansi, a house of conical shape.
Canoa, a boat. From this Eng. eanoe. Ar. kannoa, a boat.
Casique, a chief. This word was afterwards applied by Spanish writers to the native rulers throughout the New
World. Ar. hassiquan (from ussequa, house), to have or own a house or houses ; equivalent, therefore, to the Eng.
landlord.
Cimu or simu, the front, forehead ; a beginning. (Pet. Martyr, Decad. p. 302.) Ar. erne or uime, the mouth of
a river, uimelian, to be new.
Coaibai, the abode of the dead.
Cohdba, the native name of tobacco.
Conuco, a cultivated field. (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. vii, cap. 2.)
Dulios or duohos, low seats (unas baxas sillas. Las Casas, Hist. Gen. lib. I, cap 90. Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. V. cap.
1 . Richardo, sub voce, by a careless reading of Oviedo says it means images). Ar. dulluhu or durruhu, a seat, a bench.
Goeiz, the spirit of the living (Pane, p. 444) ; probably a corruption of Ouayzas. Ar. akhxtyalia, the spirit of
a living animal.
Qua, a very frequent prefix : Peter Martyr says, " Est apud eos articulus et pauca sunt regum praecipue nominum
quae non incipiant ab hoc articulo gua." (Decad. p. 285.) Very many proper names in Cftba and Hayti still retain
it. The modern Cubans pronounce it like the English w with the spiritua lenis. It is often written oa, ua, oua, and
liua. It is not an article, but corresponds to the a7i in the Maya, and the gue in the Tupi of Brazil, from which latter
it is probably derived. 22
Guaca, a vault for storing provisions. ,
Guacabina, provisions for a journey, supplies. ' "' '
Guacamayo, a species of parrot, maci-ocercus tricolor. .' " * -
Guanara, a retired stop. (Pane, p. 444); a species' of dove, eolunjba ^naida (Richardo, S. V.)
Guanin, an impure sort of gold. " \ ■ *'
Guaoxeri, a term applied to the lowest class of tiie inhabitants (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 197.) A.v wakaijaru,
worthless, dirty, wakaijatti lilii, a worthless fellow.
Guatiao, friend, companion (Richardo). Ar. ahati, companion, playmate.
Guayzas, masks or figures (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 61). Ar. akkuyaha, living beings.
Ilaba, a basket (Las Casas, Hist. Gen. lib. iii, cap. 21). Ar. liabba, a basket.
Haiti, stony, rocky, rough (Pet. Martyr, Decades). Ar. ae»si or aetti, a stone.
Hamaca, a bed, hammock. Ar. liamaha, a bed, hammock.
Hico, a rope, ropes (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. v, cap. 2).
21 Tliere was a hall-ground In every village. It was "tres veces mas luenga que ancha, cercada dc unos lomlllos dc un palmo o dos de alto." The ball was
" com o las de vlento nuestras mas no cuanto al salto, que era mayor que eeisde las de vlento." (Las Casas, Historia .4i>oio<)«(ic<z, caps. 46, 204.) Perhaps the
ball was of India rubber.
""Gueou Gul, signal de vocatlvo, mas so eraprcga<lo palos homcms." Dias Viccionario da Lingua Titpy chamada Lingua Gcral do/> Inditjenas do Brazil, ^.(iQ
(Llpsla, 1838).
m ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 13
Hobin, gold, brass, any reddish inetaL (Navarrete Viages, i, p. 134, Pet. Martyr, Dec. p. 303). Ar. hobin, red.
Iluiho, heigbt. (Pet. Martyr, p. 304). Ar. aijumiin, above, high iip.
Huracan, a hurricane. From this Sp. huraean, Fr. ouragan, German Orkan, Eiig. hurricane. Tliis woi'd is
given in the Liere Sacri des Qaichis as the nams of their highest divinity, but the resemblance may be accidental.
Father Ximenes, who translated the Licre Sacr^, derives the name from the Quiche hu rakan, one foot. Father
Thomas Goto, in his Cakchiquel Dictionary, (MS. in the library of the Am. Phil. Soc.) translates diablo by liurakan,
but as the equivalent of the Spanish Uuracan, he gives ratincliet.
Hyen, a poisonous liquor expressed from the cassava root. (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 2).
• Itabo, a lagoon, pond. (Richardo).
Juanna, a serpent. (Pet. Martyr, p. 63). Xv.joanna, a lizard ; jawanaria, a serpent.
Maoana, a war club. (Navarrete, Viages. i. p. 13.5).
Jlagua, a plain. (Las Casas, Breviss. Relat. p. 7).
Maguey, a native drum. (Pet. Martyr, p. 380).
Maisi, maize. From this Eng. maize, Sp. main, Ar. mariti, maize.
Matum, liberal, noble. (Pet. Martyr, p. 293).
Matunheri, a title applied to the highest chiefs. (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 197),
Mayani, of no value, ("nihil!," Pet. Martyr, p. 9). Ar. ma, no, not.
Naborias, servants. (Las Casas, Hist. Gen. lib. iii, cap. 33).
Nacan, middle, center. Ar. annakan, center. '
Nagua, or enagua, the breecli cloth made of cotton and worn around the middle. Ar, annaka, the middle.
Nitainos, the title applied to the petty chiefs, (regillos 6 guiallos. Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap, 197) ; tayno vir
bonus, taynos nobiles, says Pet. Martyr, (Decad. p. 25). The latter truncated form of the word was adopted by
Rafinesque and others, as a general name for the people and language of Hayti. There is not the slightest authority
for this, nor for supposing, with Von Martius, that the first syllable is a pronominal prefix. The derivation is undoubt-
edly Ar. nuddan to look well, to stand firm, to do anything well or skilfully.
Nucay or nozay, gold, used especially in Cuba and on the Bahamas. The words caona and tuob were in vogue in
Haiti (Navarrete, Viages, Tom. 1, pp. 45, 134).
Operito, dead, and
Opia, the spirit of the dead (Pane, pp. 443, 444). Ar. aparrun to kill, apparahun dead, hipparrukiiloa he is dead.
Quisqueia, a native name of Haiti ; " vastitas et universus ac totus. Uti Grseci suum Panem," says Pet. Martyr
(Decad. p. 279). "Madre de las tierras," Valverde tran.slates it (^Idea del valor de la Isla Espanola, Introd. p. xviii).
The orthography is evidently very false.
Sabana, a plain covered with grass without trees (terrano llano, Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. vi. cap. 8). From this
the Bp. savana, Eng. saitannah. Charlevoix, on the authority of Mariana, says it is an ancient Gothic word
(Histoire de I'Isle St. Domingue, i. p. 53). But it is probably from the Ar. sallaban, smooth, level.
Semi, the divinities worshipped by the natives (" Lo mismo que nosotros Uamamos Diablo," Oviedo, Hist. Gen.
lib. V. cap. 1. Not evil spirits only, but all spirits). Ar. semeti sorcerers, diviners, priests.
Siba, a stone. Ar. siba, a stone.
Starei, shining, glowing (relucens, Pet. Martyr, Decad. p. 304). Ai% tere'n to be hot, glowing, tereh'A heat.
Tabaco, the pipe used in smoking the cohoba. This word has been applied in all European languages to the
plant nicotiana tabacum itself.
Taita, father (Richardo). Ar. ilta father, dailta or dalli my father.
TaguSguas, ornaments for the ears hammered from native gold (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap, 199).
Tuob, gold, probably akin to liobin, q. v.
Turey, heaven. Idols were called "cosas de tor«^" (Navarrete, Viages, Tom. i. p. 231). Probably akin to
ttarei, q. v.
14 THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
The following numerals are given by Las Oasas (Hist. Apol. c.ip. 204).
1 hequeti. Ar. hurketai, tliat is one, from hurkun to be single or alone.
2 yamosa. Ar. Mama, two.
3 cauocum. Ar. kannikun, many, a large number, kannikukade, he has many things.
4 yaraoucobre, evidently formed from yamosa, as Ar. bibiti, four, from biama, two.
The other numerals Las Casas had unfortunately forgotten, but he says they counted by hands and feet, just as
the Arawacks do to this day.
Various compound words and phrases are found in difterent writers, some of whicli are readily explained from
the Arawack. Thus tureigua hnbin, which Petet Martyr translates "rex resplendens uti orichalcum,"^' in Arawack
means '•shining like something red." Oviedo says that at marriages in Cuba it was customary for the bride to
bestow her favors on every man present of equal rank with her husband before the latter's turn came. When all
liad thus enjoyed her, she ran through the crowd of guests shouting manieato, manicato, "lauding herself, meaning
that she was strong, and brave, and equal to mucli." ^* This is evidently the Ar. nianikade, from indn, manin, and
means I-nm unhurt, I am unconqncred. When the natives of Haiti were angry, says Las Uasas,^^ they would not
strike each other, but apply such harmless epithets as buticaco, you are blue-eyed (anda para zarco de los ojos),
xeyticaco, you are black-eyed (anda para negro de los ojos), or mahite, you have lost a tooth, as the case might be.
The termination aeo in' the first two of these expressions is clearly the Ar. acou, or akusi, eyes, and the last men-
tioned is not unlike the Ar. mdrikata, you have no teeth ( ma negative, ari tooth). The same writer gives for "I do
not know," the word ita, in Ai". daitia.^
Some of the words and phrases I have been unable to identify in the Arawack. They are duiheyniquen, dives
fluvius, maguacochios vestiti homines, both in Peter Martyr, and the following conversation, which he says took
place between one of the Haitian chieftians and his wife.
She. Teitoca teitoca. Tccheta cynato guamechyna. Guaibbd.
He. Cyniito niachabuca guamechyna.
These words he translated : teitoca be quiet, ttclieta much, cynato angry, guamechyna the Lord, guaibba go,
maehabuca what is it to me. But thoy are either very incorrectly spelled, or are not Arawack.
The proper names of localities iu Cuba, Hayti and the Bahamas, furnish additional evidence that their original
Inhabitants were Arawacks. Hayti, I have already shown has now the same meaning in Arawack which Peter Martyr
ascribed to it at the discovery. Cubanacan, a province in the interior of Cuba, is compounded oikuba and annakan,
in the center f Baraooa, the name of province on the coast, is from Ar. bara sea, koan to be there, " the sea is there;"
in Barajagua the bara again appears ; Guaymaya is Ar. waya clay, mara there is none ; Marien is from Ar. maran
to be small or poor ; Guaniguanico, a province on the narrow western extremity of the island, with the sea on either
side, is probably Ar. louini wuinikoa, watei-, water is there. The names of tribes such as Siboneyes, Guantaneyes,
owe their termination to the island Arawack, eyeri men, in the modern dialect hiaeru, captives, slaves. The Siboneyes
are said by Las Casas, to have been the original inhabitants of Cuba.'* The name is evidently from Ar. siba, rock,
eyeri men, "men of the rocks." The rocky shores of Cuba gave them this apjiellation. On the other hand the
22 />e lielus Oceanicis, p. 303.
24 Hist, de las Indias, lib. xvli. cap. 1. Las Casas denies the story, and says Oviedo told It In order to prejudice people against the natives {Hist. Gen. de Ian
Indias, Ifb. ill. cap. XKiv). It Is, however, probably true.
2j Jlintoria Apologetica, cap. 19S.
26 He compares the stgnltlcatlon of ita In Ilaytian to ita In Latin, and translates the former iia by no ae; this Is plainly an error of the transcriber for yo
« (fliet. Apologetica, cap. 241).
2T Kuba in Arawack !s the sign of past time and Is used as a prefl.x to nouns, as well as a suffix to verbs. Kubakanaa ancestors, those passed away, those
who lived in past times.
28 " Toda la mas de la gente de que estaba poblaba aquella Isla [Cuba} era passada y natural desta ysla Espanola, puesto que la mas autigua y natural de
aquella ysla era como la de los Lucayos de quien ablamos en el prlmero y segundo llbroser conio los seres que parecia no haber pecado nuestro padre Adan en
ellos, gente slmpUcissinia, bonlssima, careciente de todos vlclos, y beatlssinia. Kstaerala natural y native de aquella ysla, y llamabanse en su lengua, CI boll -
eyes, la penultlma silaba luenga; y los desta por Rradoo por fuerza se apodearon de aquella ysla y gente della, y los tenian como sirvientes suyos." (Las Casas
Hint. Gen. de las Indias, MSS. lib. ill, cap. 21). Elsewhere (cap. 23) he says this occurred " mayormente " after the Spaniards had settled in Haiti.
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS. 15
natives of the islets of the Bahamas were called lukku kairi, abbreviated to lukkairi, and lucayos, from lukku, man, kairi
an island, "men of the Islands ;" and the archipelago itself was called by the first explorers "lasislasde Ids Lucayos,'"
" isole delle Lucai."29 -phe ijrovince in the western angle of Haiti was styled Guacaiariraa, which Peter Martyr trans-
lates " insulae podex ;" dropping the article, caiarima Is sufficiently like the Ar. kuiruiiia, which signifies podex, Sp.
culala, and is used geographically in the same manner as the latter word.
The word Maya frequently found in the names of places in Cuba and Haiti, as Mayaba, Mayanabo, Mayajigua,
Cajimaya, .laimayabon, is doubtless the Ar. negative tna, mdn, mara. Some writers have thought it indicative of the
extension of the Maya language of Yucatan over the Antilles. Prichard, Squier, Waitz, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bas
tian and other ethnologists have felt no hesitation in assigning a large portion of Cuba and Haiti to the Mayas. It is
true the first explorers heard in Cuba and Jamaica, vague rumors of the Yucatecan peninsula, and found wax and
other products brought from there.'" This shows that there was some communication between the two races, but all
authorities agree that there was but one language over the whole of Cuba. The expressions which would lead to a
different opinion are found in Peter Martyr. He relates that in one place on the southern shore of Cuba, the inter-
preter whom Columbus had with him, a native of San Salvador, was at fault. But the account of the occurrence
given by Las Casas, indicates that the native with whom the interpreter tried to converse simply refused to talk at all."
Again, in Martyr's account of Grijalva's voyage to Yucatan in 1517, he relates that this captain took with him a
native to serve as an interpreter ; and to explain how this could be, he adds that this interpreter was one of the Cuban
natives "quorum idionia, si non idem, cousanguineum tamen," to that of Yucatan. This is a mere fabrication, as
the chaplain of Grijalva on this expedition states explicitly in the narrative of it which he wrote, that the interpreter
was a native of Yucatan, who had been captured a year before. '^
Not only is there a very great dissimilarity in sound, words, and structure, between the Arawack and Maya, but
the nations were also far asunder in culture. The Mayas were the most civilized on the continent, while the Arawacks
possessed little besides the most primitive arts, and precisely that tribe which lived on the extremity of Cuba nearest
Yucatan, the Guanataneyes, were the most barbarous on the island.'"
The natives of the greater Antilles and Bahamas differed little in culture. They cultivated maize, manioc, yams,
jjotatoes, corn, and cotton. The latter they wove into what scanty apparel they required. Their arms were bows
witli reed aiTows, pointed with ilsh teeth or stones, stone axes, spears, and a war club armed with sharp stones called
a maeana. They were asimple hearted, peaceful, contented race, " all of one language and all friends," says Colum-
bus ; "not given to wandering, naked, and satisfied with little," says Peter Martyr ; "a people very poor in all things,"
says Las Casas.
Yet they had some arts. Statues and masks in wood and stone were found, some of them in the opinion of Bishop
Las Casas, "very skilfully carved." They hammered the native gold into ornaments, and their rude .sculi>tures on
the face of the rocks are still visible in parts of Cuba and Haiti. Their boats were formed of single trunks of trees
often of large size, and they managed them adroitly; their houses were of reeds covered with palm leaves, and usually
accommodated a lai'ge number of families ; and in their holy places, they set up rows of large stones like the ancient
cromlechs, one of which is still preserved in Hayti, and is known as la cercada de lo8 Indios.
29 " Lucaj'os o por mejordecir Yucayos"' says Las Casas, (flwi. (?««. lib. ii, cap. 44) and after him Herrera. But the correction which was based apparently
on some supposed connection of the word with yuca, llie Haitian name of an esculent plant, is superfluous, and Las Casas himself never employs it, nor a
single other writer.
30 Las Casas. HUl. Gen. tie las Indias, lib. iv. cap. 48. MSS. Bees were native to Yucatan long before the discovery, but not to the north temperate zone.
31 "Varla eulm esse idiomata in variis Cubae provlnclis perpendenint." (Pet. Martyr, Be Rebus Oceanicis, v, 42). Las Casas says that a sailor told Columbus
thathe sawonelndlancacique in along whitetunic who refused to speaii, but stalked silently away. (FIist.de las Indias, Ub. I. cap. 95). Martyr says there
were several. Peschel suggests they were tall white iiaratngoes, that scared the adventurous tar out of his wits. (.Geschichte dcs Zeitalters der Entdeckungen,p.
253). At any rate the story gives no foundation at all for Peter Martyr's philogical opinion.
33 Pet. Martyr, De Ineulis Ntiper Innentis, p. 335. "Trala consigo Grlsalva un Indlo per lengua de los que de aquella tierra hablan llevado consigo a ta ysla de
Cuba Francisco Hernandez. Las Casas i7i»<. ffeii . de las /iirfioa, lib. Ill.cap. 108, MSS. Sec also the chaplain's account in Terneaux Compans, ifeci^ii de
Pieces rel. a la Conquile de Mexique, p. 56-
33 Bernal Bias says the vicinity of cape San Antonio was Inhabited by the "Ouauataneys que son unos Indias como salvages." He expressly adds that
their clothing dlll'ered from thatof the Mayas, and that the Cuban natives with him could not understand the Maya language. Uistoria VerdaSra, cap. II.
16 THE ARAAVACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA
Pliysically they were undersized, less muscular than the Spaniards, light in color, with thick hair and scanty
beards. Their foreheads were naturally low and retreating, and they artificially flattened the skull by pressure on
the forehead or the occiput.'*
Three social grades seem to have prevailed, the common herd, the petty chiefs who ruled villages, and the inde-
pendent chiefs who governed provinces. Of the latter there were in Cuba twenty-nine ; in Haiti five, as near as
can be now ascertained.'' Some of those in Cuba had shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards moved there from
Haiti, and at the conquest one of the principal chiefs of Haiti was a native of the Lucayos.'^
The fate of these Indians is something terrible to contemplate. At the discovery there were probably 150,000
on Cuba, Haiti, and the Bahamas.'' Those on the latter were carried as slaves to Haiti to work in the mines, and all
of the Lucayos exterminated in three or four years (1508-1512).'^ The sufferings of the Haitians have been told in a
graphic manner by Las Casas in an oft-quoted work.'' His statements have frequently been condemned as grossly
exaggerated, but the official documents of the early history of Cuba prove but too conclusively that the worthy
missionary reports correctly what terrible cruelties the Spaniards committed. Cuba was conquered in 1514, and was
then quite densely populated. Fourteen years afterwards we find the Governor, Gonzalo de Guzman, complaining
that while troops of hunters were formerly traversing the island constantly, asking no other pay than the right of
keeping as .slaves the natives whom they captured, he now has to pay patrolmen, as the Indians are so scarce.'"' The
next year (1539) the treasurer. Lope de Hurtado, writes that the Indians are in such despair that they are hanging
themselves twenty and thirty at a time." In 1530 the king is petitioned to relinquish his royalty on the produce of
the mines, because nearly all the Indians on the island are dead.*^ And in 1533 the licentiate, Vadillo, estimates
the total number of Indians on the island, including the large percentage brought from the mainland by the slavers,
at only 4,500."
As a specimen of what the treatment of the Indians was, we have an accusation in 1533 against Vasco Porcallo,
afterwards one of the companions of Hernando de Soto. He captured several Indians, cut off their genitals, and
forced them to eat them, cramming them down their throats when they could not swallow. When asked for his
defence, Porcallo replied that he did it to prevent his own Indians from committing suicide, as he had already lost
two-thirds of his slaves in that way. The defence was apparently deemed valid, for he was released ! ■'■'
The myths and traditions of the Haitians have fortunately been preserved, though not in so perfect a form as
might be wished. When Bartholomew Columbus left Rome for the Indies, he took with him a lay brother of the
order of the Hermits of St. Jerome, Ramon Pane by name, a Catalan by birth, a worthy but credulous and ignorant
" " Presso caplte, fronte lata" (Nicolaus Syllaclus, De Inmlls naper Invenlui.p. 86. lieprlnt. New York, 1839. This Is tho extremely rare account of Colum-
bus' second voyage). Six not very perfect skulls were obtained In 1860, by Col. F. S. Henekcn, from a cavern 15 miles south-west from Porto Plata. They are all
more or less distorted In a dlscoldal manner, one by pressure over the frontal sinus, reducing the calvarla to a disk. (J. Barnard Davis, ThesauruB Craniorum^
p. 236. London, 1867. Mr. Davis eiToneously calls them Carib skulls).
^ The provinces of Cuba are laid down on the Mapa de la Isla de Cubaaeffun la dioUion deloa iVofuroIeff, por D. Jose Maria de la Torre y de la Torre, in the
Memoriasde laSociedad Patriotica de la Habana, 1841. See also Felipe Poey, Geografia de la Tela de Oitba^ lEabana, 1853- Apendice eohre la Geograjia Antigua,
Las Casas gives the five provinces of Hayti by the names of their chiefs, Guarlnox, Guacanagarl, Behechlo, Caoniibo and Higuey- For their relative posi-
tion see the map In Charlevoix's niatoire deV Isle San Domingtu, Paris, 1740, and In Baumgarten's Geachichte vonAmerika, B. II.
w This was Caonabo. Oviedo, and following him Charlevoix, say he was a Carl b, but L.is CaStis, who having 11 ved twenty years In Haiti immedlatelyafter the
discovery. Is Infinitely the best authority, says : "Era de naclon Lucayo, natural de las Islas de los Lucayos, que se pasd de ellas aca." (Hutoria Apologetica^ cap.
179, MSS).
n I put the figures very low. Peter Martyr, whose estimates are the lowest of any writer, says there were more than 200,000 natives on Haiti alone. (De
i2«6u« Oceanicis, p. 295.)
M More than 40,000 were brought to Haiti to en)oy the benefits of Christian instruction, says Herrera, with what might pass as a ghastly sarcasm. {HUtoria
General de lae Indiae, Dec. I, lib. VIII, cap. 3).
33 Breviestma Rclacion de la DeHruccion de las Indias Occidentales por lo8 CaBtellanoe, Sevllla, 1552.
*" Ramon de de la Sagra, Sietoria de la Jala de Cuha^ Tom. II, p. 381.
<i Ibid, p. 394.
« Ibid, p. 396.
« Ibid, p. 414.
" Ibid, p.465. These references toDe la Sagra's work arc all to the original documents in hla Appendix.
IN ITS LINGUISTIC AND ETHNOLOGICAL RELATIONS, It
man.*' On reaching Haiti brother Pane was first sent among the natives of the small province called Macorix de
abajo, whicli had a language peculiar to itself, but he was subsequently transferred to the province of Guarinoex on
the southeastern part of the island where the lengua universal prevailed. He remained there two years, and at the
request of Columbus collected and wrote down the legends and beliefs of the natives.
He is not a model authority. In the first place, being a Catalan he did not write Spanish correctly ; lie was very
imperfectly acquainted with the native tongue ; he wrote hastily, and had not enough paper to write in full ; lie is
not sure that he commences their legends at the right end. Moreover his manuscript is lost, and the only means we
have of knowing anytliiug about it is by a very incorrectly printed Italian version, printed in 1571, and two early
synopses, cue in Latin in the Decades of Peter Martyr, the other in Italian, by Messer Zuane de Strozi of Ferrara,
which has been quite recently published for the first time.** By comparing these we can arrive at the meaning of
Brother Pane with considerable accuracy.
His work contains fragments of two distinct cycles of legends, the one describing the history of the gods, the
other the history of the human race.
Earliest of creatures was the woman, Atabeira or Ataves, who also bore the other names Mamoua, Guacarapita,
liella, and Guiraaztfa. Her son was the supreme ruler of all things, and chiefest of divinities. His names were
Yocatina, Guamadnocon, and Tocahu-vaguaniao-vocoti . He had a brother called Guaca, and a son laiael. The latter
rebelled against his father, and was exiled for four months and then killed. Tlie legend goes on to relate that his
bones were placed in a calabash and hung up in his father's house. Here they changed into fishes, and the calabash
filled with water. One day four brothers passed that way, who had all been born at one time, and whose mother,
Itaba tahuana, had died in bringing them into the world. Seeing the calabash filled with fish the oldest of the four,
Caracaracol, the Scabby, lifted it down, and all commenced to eat. While thus occupied, Yocauna suddenly made his
appeai-ance, which so terrified the brothers that they dropped the gourd and broke it into pieces. From it ran all the
waters of the world, and formed the oceans, lakes, and rivers as they now are.
At this time there were men but no women, and the men did not dare to venture into the sunlight. Once, as
they were out in the rain, they perceived four creatures, swift as eagles and slippery as eels. The men called to their
aid Caracaracol and his brothers, who caught these creatures and transformed them into women. In time, these
became the mothers of mankind.
The earliest natives of Haiti came under the leadership of the hero-god, Vaguoniona, a name applied by Las
Casas to Tocahu, from an island to the south called in the legend Matininfi, which all the authors identify, I know
not why, with Martinique. They landed first on the banks of the river Bahoboni in the western part of Haiti, and
there erected the first bouse, called Camoteia. This was ever after preserved and regarded with respectful veneration.
Such, in brief, were their national myths. Conspicuously marked in them we note the sacred number four, the
four brothers typifying the cardinal points, whose mother, the Dawn, dies in giving them birth, just as in the Algonkin
myths. These brothers aid the men in their struggles for life, and bring to them the four women, the rain-bringing
winds. Here, too, the first of existences is the woman, whose son is at once highest of divinities and the guide and in-
structor of their nation . These peculiarities I have elsewhere shown to be general throughout the religions of America.*'
The myth of the thunder storm also appears among them in its triplicate nature so common to the American
mind. God of the storm was Guabancex, whose statue was made of stones. When angry he sent before him as<inessen-
ger, Guatauva, to gather the winds, and accompanied by Coatrischie, who collected the rain-clouds in the valleys of the
mountains, he swept down upon the plain, surrounded by the awful paraphernalia of the thunder storm.*'
« Las Casas knew Pane personally, and given his name correctly (not Roman, as all the printed authorities have It). He described him as " hombre simple
y de buena Intenclon;" "fuese Catalan de nacion y no habla del todo blen uuestra lengua Castellana." Ramon came to Haiti four or five years before Las Casas,
and the latter speaks of him in a disparaging tone. " Este Fray Ramon escudrino lo que pudo, segun lo que alcanzo de las lenguas que fueron ires, las que
habla en esta ysla: pero no supo sino la una de una chlca provincia, que arrlba d^imos llamarse Macarla de abajo, y aquella no perfectamente. {HUtoria
Apologetica, M^S. cap. 120, see also cap. 162). This statsmint Is not quite true, as according to Las Casas' own admission Pane dwelt two years In the province
of Guarinoex, where the lengua unioersat was spoken, and thnre collected these traditions.
48 Pane's account was first published in the nutorie del Frcnando dloinfyo, Venetla. 1571, from which it has recently been translated and published with
notes by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Paris. 1S64. The version of Zuane de Strozl is in the Appendix to Harrisse's Bibliotheca PHmordia Americana, p. 474.
" The myths 0/ the New World, (New York, 1868).
« See the work last quoted, p. 156, for a number of similar myths of the trinity of the storm.
18 THE ARAWACK LANGUAGE OF GUIANA, ETC.
Let us place side by side with these ancient myths the national legend of the Arawacks." They tell of a supreme
spiritual being Yauwahu or Yauhahu. Pain and sickness are the invisible shafts he shoots at men, yauJiahu simaira
the arrows of Yauhahu, and he it is whom the priests invoke in their incantations. Once upon a time, men lived
without any means to propitiate this unseen divinity ; they knew not how to ward off his anger or conciliate him.
At that time the Arawacks did not live in Guiana, but in an island to the north. One day a man named Arawanili
walked by the waters grieving over the ignorance and suffering of his nation. Suddenly the spirit of the waters, the
woman Orehu, rose from the waves and addressed him. She taught him the mysteries of semeci, the sorcery which
pleases and controls Yauhahu, and presented him with the maraka, the holy calabash containing white pebbles which
they rattle during their exorcisms, and the sound of which summons the beings of the unseen world. Arawanili
ftiithfully iustnicted his people in all that Orehu had said, and tluis i-escued them from their wretchedness. When
after a life of wisdom and good deeds the hour of his departure came, he " did not die, but went up."
Orehu accompanied the Ai-awacks when they moved to the main, and still dwells in a treeless, desolate spot, on
the banks of the Pomeroon. The negroes of the colony have learned of her, and call her in their broken English, the
" watra-mamma," the water-mother.
The proper names which occur in these myths, date back to the earliest existence of the Arawacks as an independ-
ent tribe, and are not readily analyzed by the language as it now exists. The Haitian Yocauna seems indeed identical
with the modern Yauhahu. Atabes or Atabcira is probably from itabo, lake, lagoon, and era, water, (the latter only
in composition, as /i«/v!fr«, mountain, em, water, mountain-water, a spring, a source), and in some of her actions
corresponds with Orehu. Caracaracol is translated by Brother Pane, as " the Scabby" or the one having ulcers, and
in this respect the myth presents a curious analogy with many others in America. In modern Arawack karrikala is
a form, in the third person singular, from karriii, to be sick, to be pregnant. Arawanili, which one might be tempted
to suppose gave the name Arawack to the tribe, did not all writers derive this differently, may be a form of awawa,
father. In the old language, the termination el, is said to have meant son.
Of the two remaining languages said to have been spoken in the small provinces of Macorix de arriba and Macorix
de abajo, in Hayti, we have no certain knowledge. ^o Las Casas gives one word from tlie former. It is bazca, no, not.
I cannot identify it. There is reason, however, to suppose one of them was the Tupi or "lengua geral," of Brazil.
Pane gives at least two words which are pure Tupi, and not Arawack. They are the names of two hideous idols sup-
posed to be inimical to men. The one was Bugi, in Tupi, ugly, the other Aiba, in Tupi, lad. It is noteworthy, also,
that Pigafetta, who accompanied Magellan on his voyage around the world, gives a number of words, ostensibly in
the language of the natives of Rio Janeiro, where the Tupi was spoken, which are identical with those of Haiti, as
cacich, chief, boi, house, hamao, bed, canoe, boat. But Pigafetta acknowledges that he obtained these words not from
the natives themselves, but from the pilot Juan Carvalhos, who had been for years sailing over the West Indian seas,
and had no doubt learned these words in the Antilles.^'
The remaining idiom may be supposed to have been Carib, although we have actually no evidence that the Caribs
had gained a permanent foothold on any of the Great Antilles at the period of the discovery, some careless assertions
of the old authors to the contrary, notwithstanding.
The investigation which I here close, shows that man in his migrations on the Western Continent followed the
lead of organic nature around him. For it is well known that the flora and fauna of the Antilles are South American
in character, and also, that the geological structure of the archipelago connects it with the southern mainland. So also
its earliest known human inhabitants were descended from an ancestry whoso homes were in the far south, and who by
slow degrees moved from river to river, island to island, until they came within a few miles of the northern continent.
** I take these as they are related Jn Bretts, Indian Tribes of Guiana, Part li.chap. x.
w The most trustworthy author is Las Casas. As his worlts are still in manuscript, I give his words. "Treslenguas habia en esta ysla distlntasque la una
a la otra no se entendla. La una era de la gente que llamabamos Macorix de abaJo y la otra de los vecinos del Macorix de arriba. La otra lengua fue ia univer-
sal de todala tierra, y esta era mas elegante y mas copiosa de vocables, y mas dulce al sonido. En esto la de Xaragua en todo llevaba ventaja, y era mul mas
prima." {Hiatona Apologeiica, aaii. 197). " Es aqui de saber que un gran pedajo de esta costa (that of the northern part of Haiti), bten mas de veintey cinco
o treinta leguas y quince buenasy aun veintede ancho hasta las sierras que haren desta parte del norte la gran Vega inclusive, era poblado de una gente que
se llamaron Mazoriges, y otraa Ciguayos, y tenian diversas lenguas de la universal de todas las islas." (ITistoria General, lib. I, cap. 77). " Llamaban Ciguayos
porque trayan todoslos cabellosmul luengos como en Nueva Castllla lasmujeres," (id. cap, 77). The cacique of the Ciguayos was named Mayomanex or Ma-
yobanex,(id. lib. I, cap. 120). They went almost naked, and had no arms, " eran Oaillnas almenos para con los uflos, como no tuvlesen armas," {id. cap. 120.)
" Pigafetta, Beitc urn die Welt, so. 21, 26, 247, (Gotha, 1802 ; a translation of the Italian original in the library at Milan)-
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