Yagua People - Name

Name

Yagua people are also known as Llagua, Nijyamïï Nikyejaada, Yahua, Yava, and Yegua.

There are two possible etymologies for the term 'Yagua', both of which originate outside of the Yagua language. First, the Quechua term yawar meaning 'blood' or 'the color of blood', is a likely possibility due to the Yagua custom of painting their faces with achiote, the blood red seeds of the annatto plant (Bixa orellana).

During the pre-conquest period, the Yaguas were in close contact with the Incas, as to this day there are far more Quechua (Inca) words in Yagua than there are Spanish words. The term in Quechua would have been something like yawar runa, 'the blood-red people', which could easily have been assimilated into Spanish as yagua.

Second, the term yagua in Spanish means 'royal palm'. This term could have been applied to the Yaguas by the Spanish explorers because much of the native clothing is made of palm fiber. Unfortunately, there is no data on whether a name resembling yagua was first used by the Quechuas of the area or the Spanish, therefore there is no principled way to distinguish between these two possible etymologies.

The only native term that might be thought of as a self-referent is nijyąąmíy 'people.' This word is often used in contrast with mááy 'white people' and munuñúmiy 'savages', 'enemies' or 'non-Yaguas'. However, nijyąąmíy is also the generic term for all human beings.