Nicaraguan.

Brit.

/ˌnɪkəˈraɡjʊə/, U.S.

/ˌnɪkəˈrɑɡwə/

Forms: 1600s– Nicaragua, 1700s nicarago, 1700s Nicorago, 1800s Nicaraguar.

Origin: From a proper name. Etymon: proper name Nicaragua.

Etymology: < Nicaragua (Spanish Nicaragua), the name of a republic in Central America.The place name first occurs in an English context in the late 16th cent. In Spanish Nicaragua originally referred to a large lake < Nicarao-agua < Nicarao, the name of a Central American chief whose tribe occupied the surrounding territory + Spanish agua water.

I. Compounds.

1. Nicaragua wood n. any of several red dyewoods, obtained from certain tropical American trees of the family Caesalpiniaceae ( Leguminosae), esp. Haematoxylum brasiletto and Caesalpinia echinata; also called peach-wood. Cf. Brazil-wood n. at Brazil n.² Compounds, Pernambuco n.

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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > [noun] > woods of specific colour or dye-woods

red sandalwood?c1510

redwooda1533

whitewood1562

red sanderswood1598

sapan wood1598

peach woodc1638

Campeachy wood1652

coral-wood1693

Nicaragua wood1696

cam-wood1699

Guinea wood1722

Nicaragua1756

barwood1788

ruby wood1843

sap pan1874

1696 H. Sloane Catal. Plantarum in Jamaica 213 Lignum Insulae. Bonaire Belgis..Nicaragua Wood.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World v. 115 At this place I saw 3 or 4 Tun of the Red-wood, which I take to be that sort of Wood, call'd in Jamaica Blood-wood, or Nicaragua-wood.

1708 London Gaz. No. 4408/4 A Parcel of Nicorago Wood.

1725 H. Sloane Voy. Islands II. 184 Nicaragua-Wood. This wood is almost as red, and as heavy as the true Brasile.

1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 138 Our returns are..nicaragua wood,..hides, &c.

1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1443/1 Nicaragua, or peach-woods, differ greatly in their quality as well as price.

1924 S. J. Record & C. D. Mell Timbers Trop. Amer. 247 The wood [of Haematoxylon brasiletto] from Nicaragua is known..in the trade as Nicaragua wood or ‘hypernic’.

1971 R. J. Adrosko Nat. Dyes & Home Dyeing 26 Besides being called by the other common names for brazil-wood, braziletto was also known as Nicaragua wood and hypernick.

†II. Simple uses.

2. = Nicaragua wood n. at sense 1. Obsolete. rare.

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