Pemon

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An individual belonging to an indigenous South American people living in the Gran Sabana and Canaima regions of southeastern Venezuela
2. A person from the indigenous Amerindian group inhabiting the highlands and savannas of southeastern Venezuela near the Guiana Highlands
3. Someone who is a member of an Indigenous community of southeastern Venezuela known for its traditional territory around Mount Roraima

Etymology: "Pemón" is what the people of southeastern Venezuela, and parts of neighboring Guyana and Brazil, call themselves. In their own language the word means "people," as many peoples' self-names do, marking their own community against outsiders. Other names came from neighbors and colonizers, and some survive as the names of subgroups, such as Arekuna and Kamarakoto. Pemón speakers belong to the Cariban language family, so the self-name comes from within their own tongue rather than from Spanish or English.