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Caquetío language

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Caquetío
Native toVenezuela
Aruba
Bonaire
Curaçao
EthnicityCaquetío
Extinct1862, with the death of Nicolaas Pyclas (Aruba)[1]
Arawakan
Language codes
ISO 639-3None(mis)
Glottologarub1238Caquetio

Caquetíois anextinctArawakan languagefamily.The language was spoken along the shores of Lake Maracaibo, in the coastal areas of the Venezuelan state of Falcón, and on the Dutch islands ofAruba,BonaireandCuraçao.

TheCaquetíosand theJirajaraspoke an Arawak language, and theirculturesshowed great similarities.[2]Arawak or Caquetío is referred to as a "ghost language"[3]because no tangible evidence of it remains. Only the name still exists, as mentioned in references from 17th-century texts.

Name

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An important discovery was the termkakïtho[4][5]used byLokonoto refer to "people" or "living beings", which encompasses a broader meaning than the termloko.The Lokono term "kakïtho" is derived from the Caquetíokaketío,and both can be traced back toPre-Andes Maipuranterms for "person". ThePiro(Yinelanguage) andIrupinarespectively use the termskaxitiandkakitito designate "people". Given the widespread use of this term, it is believed to have originated from Proto-Maipuran.[4][6]Some suggest that the name "Caquetío" may have originated from theCaqueta River.[7][8]The misspelling of "Caquetío" as "Caiquetio" stems from an earlySpanishdocument.[9][8]

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the collection and study of indigenous languages were irregular, lacking a systematic approach. There are no remaining documents specifically dedicated to the syntax or grammar of Arawak languages from that time.[10]It was only in the late 18th century that linguists began to study and classify Arawak languages.[11]

Origin

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Around 5000 BCE, theProto-Equatorial languageemerged inPeruandEcuador,specifically near theMadre de DiosandUcayali rivers,close to the source of theAmazon River.[a]This language led to two distinct language families:Tupí-Guaraní,which moved southward, and theArawak family,which migrated northward. By about 3500 BCE, the Proto-Arawak language appeared in the Amazon region and the northern sources of theRío Negroarea.[15]

Between 3000 and 2000 BCE, speakers of the Proto-Arawak language journeyed along the Río Negro. They navigated theCasiquiare canaland settled in theOrinoco Riverarea. This migration gave rise to the Proto-Arawak language and the formation of theProto-Maipuranlanguage.

Around 1500 BCE, they arrived in the Middle Orinoco region near theMeta River,initiating diverse subgroups. Notably, the Proto-Northern subgroup, the ancestral roots of the Caquetío people, emerged. These subgroups dispersed in various directions from the Middle Orinoco. Some traveled west via the Meta River to theVenezuelan AndesandColombia,leading to the emergence of theGuajiroandParaujano languages.

Others continued downstream along the Orinoco,[b]expanding intothe Guianasand theWest Indian islands.This expansion gave rise to the Arawak language (also known as Lokono) in the Guianas, and theIgneri language,which transformed intoIsland Caribin theLesser Antilles.The Proto-Northerners who settled in theGreater Antillesdeveloped the†Taíno language.[18]

Around 500 BCE, the Caquetío language group separated from the Middle to Upper Orinoco areas,[19]migrated alongside theApure River,and headed northwest to Venezuela. Eventually, they reached the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Simultaneously, other groups like the Carib, Lokono, and Taíno evolved due to migrations from the Orinoco to the Caribbean region.

Vocabulary

[edit]

The vocabulary of northwestern Venezuela was shaped by numerous Arawak communities along the coast of Falcón state and the Guajira Peninsula. TheWayuu peoplecommunicate in Guajiro, while the Paraujano†language, once spoken by the Paraujano or Añú people, has faded. With the arrival of Europeans, the dominant Caquetío language emerged. Many place names (toponymy) and personal names (anthroponymy) persist along the Falcón coast,[20]and some have survived on Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire.[21][22]Caquetío was spoken not only on the islands but also along the Venezuelan coast, particularly in theYaracuy,Portuguesa,andApure riverregions, known as the states of Falcón andLara.The language declined as the indigenous Amerindian population decreased during Spanish occupation.[23]Although Caquetío's influence onPapiamentois limited, some original Caquetío words are present in Papiamento.[24]

Indigenous names are prevalent in specific regions of Aruba, such asSasiriwichiat the northwestern tip,[25]near theCalifornia lighthouse.Additionally, the hilly areas in eastern Aruba, fromCashiunti,Huliba,KiwarcutoCoashiatiorJamanota,and the north coast betweenAndicuriand Oranjestad, abound in Caquetío toponyms.[26]Notably, many Caquetío words in Papiamento pertain to localfloraandfauna,unfamiliar to Europeansettlersand African slaves who arrived in the area in early 16th century.[24]

Sources

[edit]
  • Arcaya, P.M. (1951).Historia del Estado Falcón, Republica de Venezuela I(in Spanish). Caracas: Tipografia La Nación.Archivedfrom the original on 2023-10-17.Retrieved2023-07-08.
  • Buurt, Gerard Van; Joubert, Sidney M. (1997).Stemmen uit het verleden: Indiaanse woorden in het Papiamentu[Voices from the past: Indian words in Papiamentu].ISBN9789990401455.
  • Haviser, J.B. (1987). "Amerindian Cultural Geography on Curaçao".Natuurwetenschappelijke Studiekring voor Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen.120.
  • Haviser, J.B. (1991).The first Bonaireans.Archaeological-Anthropological Institute of the Netherlands Antilles.
  • Kinney, L. (1970)."Origin and Development of Papiamento".Archivedfrom the original on 2023-05-16.Retrieved2024-05-26.Paper prepared for the Area linguistics Seminar, Ohio State University, Columbus, july 1970{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  • Noble, K.G. (1965). "Proto-Arawakan and Its Descendants".International Journal of American Linguistics.31(3).
  • Oliver, J.R. (1989).The Archaeological, Linguistic and Ethnohistorical Evidence for the Expansion of Arawakan into Northwestern Venezuela and Northeastern Colombia(Thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC).Archivedfrom the original on 2023-05-03.Retrieved2023-04-27– via UCL Discovery.
  • Oliver, J.R. (1990). "Reflexiones sobre el Posible Origen del Wayú (Guajiro)".La Guajira: De la Memoria al Porvenir. Una Vision Antropológica(in Spanish) (G. Ardila Calderón ed.). Bogotá, Colombia: Centro Editorial Fondo FEN Colombia, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. pp. 81–135.ISBN9789581700714.
  • Rouse, I. (1986).Migrations in Prehistory. Inferring Population Movement from Cultural Remains.New Haven: Yale University.ISBN9780300036121.
  • Rouse, I. (1992).The Taínos, Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus.New Haven: Yale University Press.Retrieved2023-06-28.
  • Taylor, D.R. (1977).Languages of the West Indies.Baltimore-London: Johns Hopkins University Press.ISBN9780801817298.
  • Versteeg, A.; Ruiz, A.C. (1995).Reconstructing Brasil Wood Island: the archaeology and landscape of Indian Aruba.Aruba: Publications of the Archaeological Museum, no. 6.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^[11][12][13][14]
  2. ^[16][17]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"The First Inhabitants of Aruba"(PDF).The National Archaeological Museum Aruba. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2013-10-13.Retrieved2014-12-26.
  2. ^"Caquetío | people | Britannica".britannica.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-04-07.Retrieved2023-07-06.
  3. ^"ghost language",Wiktionary,2022-11-03,archivedfrom the original on 2023-07-07,retrieved2023-07-06
  4. ^abOliver 1989,p. 166.
  5. ^Taylor 1977,p. 82.
  6. ^Oliver 1990,p. 85.
  7. ^Arcaya 1951,p. 27.
  8. ^abHaviser 1987,p. 55.
  9. ^Arcaya 1951,p. 14.
  10. ^Oliver 1989,p. 54.
  11. ^abRouse 1986,p. 121.
  12. ^Noble 1965,p. 107.
  13. ^Oliver 1989,p. 77.
  14. ^Haviser 1991,p. 73.
  15. ^Rouse 1986,pp. 121–123.
  16. ^Rouse 1986,pp. 120–126.
  17. ^Haviser 1991,p. 74.
  18. ^Rouse 1992,p. 40.
  19. ^Oliver 1989,pp. 177–178.
  20. ^Oliver 1989.
  21. ^Buurt & Joubert 1997.
  22. ^Versteeg & Ruiz 1995.
  23. ^Kinney 1970.
  24. ^abBuurt & Joubert 1997,p. 5.
  25. ^"NL-HaNA_4.VEL_649".nationaalarchief.nl(in Dutch).Archivedfrom the original on 2023-06-29.Retrieved2023-11-13.Groote land baaij van de N:W:Hoek bij de indianen Sesereweetje genaamt.
  26. ^Versteeg & Ruiz 1995,p. 69.


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