Mayan Loanwords
A number of loanwords of Mayan or potentially Mayan origins are found in other languages, principally Spanish, English and some neighboring Mesoamerican languages. Equally, there are words in both historical and modern Mayan languages that are known or suspected to ultimately derive from some non-Mayan language.
According to Breaking the Maya Code: Revised Edition by Michael D. Coe, 1999, the English word "shark" comes directly from the Yucatec Maya xoc for "fish". The OED print edition describes the origin of shark as "uncertain", noting that it "seems to have been introduced by the sailors of Captain (afterwards Sir John) Hawkins's expedition, who brought home a specimen which was exhibited in London in 1569".
Another word is "cigarette". "Zik" is Maya for "smoke" and "zikil" is Chol Maya for "smoked", which in Chorti Maya is "zikar", the origin for cigar and thus cigarette.
The word "hurricane" is clearly related to the Mayan deity Jun Raqan. However, it is probable that the word passed into European languages from Carib. Whether the word passed from Mayan to Carib or from Carib to Mayan is unknown.
Read more about this topic: Mayan Languages