Influences From Native American Languages
In October 1492 Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in the Americas, and thereafter Spanish settlers began to come into contact with a host of native American languages. Most of these were wiped out or severely reduced in number of speakers and distribution area during the conquest, but Spanish adopted a number of words from some of them. The following list is by no means exhaustive.
- From Nahuatl: tomate "tomato", chocolate "chocolate", ajolote "axolotl", cacao "cocoa", coyote "coyote".
- From Quechua: cóndor "condor" (orig. kuntur), cancha "playing field", alpaca, caucho "rubber", coca, guano, gaucho (orig. wakcha "poor person"), guanaco, llama, puma, pampa "plains, flat terrain".
- From Guaraní: caracú "bone marrow", catinga "body odor", chamamé (a folk music genre), tapera "ruins", jaguar, yaguareté "jaguar", mate (an infusion, orig. mati "pumpkin").
- From Carib: caimán "caiman", huracán "hurricane", caníbal "cannibal", canoa "canoe" (through Arawak).
- From Tupi: capibara (the largest rodent on Earth), jacarandá (a tree).
Those words referring to local features or animals might be limited to regional usage, but many others like cóndor, canoa or chocolate are extended even to other languages.
Read more about this topic: Influences On The Spanish Language
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