Arawakan

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A family of Indigenous languages spoken primarily in South America, especially in the regions surrounding the Amazon River and the Caribbean
2. A group of related languages and dialects originating from the Arawak people, historically present in areas from the Caribbean to parts of northern South America
3. Referring to the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Arawak peoples, known for their significant influence on Native cultures in the Americas

Etymology: The name begins with the Arawak people of the Caribbean and northern South America, whom Europeans encountered from the late 1400s. "Arawak" is probably not a name the people used for themselves. A common explanation links it to a word in the Carib language, reportedly "aloubaka," meaning something like "cassava eaters," but this is uncertain and the Carib origin is not firmly established. The adjective and noun "Arawakan" add the suffix "-an," which English uses to form adjectives meaning "belonging to" or "relating to" a group. It is a technical label from the linguistics of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when scholars grouped many South American languages into families. In that usage it names the Arawakan language family, which includes languages spoken across much of lowland South America and the Caribbean, and it describes the speakers of those languages. It does not cover all indigenous peoples in general.

Synonyms: Arawak, Taíno