Taino
/ˈtʌɪnəʊ
/noun (plural same or Tainos)
1A member of an extinct Arawak people formerly inhabiting the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas.She used Spanish titles, alluded to Santeria, the Abakua, and the Taino, incorporated actual earth and sand from Cuba, and maintained always that her work represented the embodiment of her state of exile....
- Nothing survives to indicate what the Taino made of Columbus when he landed on the island of Guanahani, now called San Salvador, on October 12, 1492.
- For these philosophical adherents, the Taino continue to exist only as subsumed elements within Puerto Rico's tri-racial dynamic.
2 [mass noun] An extinct Caribbean language of the Arawakan group.Hurricano appears in Shakespeare, but only in his last plays; the form shows that it came by way of Spanish, not directly from its West Indian origin, the Amerindian language Taino....
- Although the Taíno language is not spoken anymore, many Taíno words have survived in the Spanish language and in some areas a mixture of Taino and Spanish is still spoken.
- However only 6 sentences of Taíno have been recorded.
adjective
Relating to or denoting the Taino or their language.We do not under any circumstance support the selling of any of our sacred Taino images or objects....
- Today, there are no Arawak / Taino Indians here.
- The English word barbecue also comes from the Taino term for the rock slabs on which they baked bread.
Origin
From Taino taino 'noble, lord'.