In the eye of The Hurricane
“There is always a storm. There is always rain. Some experience it. Some live through it. And others are made from it.” — Shannon L. Alder
Puerto Rico, or Borinquén as some locals intimately refer to it, is a land full of salsa y sofrito, tostones,y mofongo. Located in a geographical location referred to as the ‘Greater Antilles’ south of Florida and in the Caribbean. Known for its beautiful natural landscape, full of vibrant beaches and waterfalls, it is an attractive location for tourism and vacations It is also very much a hotspot for hurricanes.
Hurricane or Juracán?
Fernando Picó is a leading scholar on the history of Puerto Rico. In his volume: History of Puerto Rico: A Panorama Of Its People he writes that:
“There was also a furious and malevolent being known
as Juracán, from whose name the word hurricane is derived”
This point is slightly contested, a better look at the Taíno religion shows the Cemi goddess Guabancex as the ‘malevolent being’ and Juracán as being the storms. Nonetheless, the point is our English word for Hurricane came from the Spanish huracán which directly came as a result of the Taíno Juracán.
The Taínos were an Arawakan tribe that inhabited the Caribbean islands of the Greater Antilles. This tribe is also responsible for giving us the aforementioned “Borinquén” or Boriken as it is sometimes referred to, which is what the Taínos called their island of Puerto Rico before the Spanish came and made it a colony.
Words have worth.
For a word to be coined there has to be a reason. You can’t create a word without a concept of what the word may represent. Moreover, for a word to become deified or become an aspect of a deity, I would posit that there are good reasons for such a transformation for that piece of language. An example of another transformation would be that of yucca (Manihot esculenta). Yucca/Yuca, or Cassava, was a staple in the diet of the Pre-Colonized Caribbean, so much so that the vegetable itself was also deified. Yúcahu, as it is sometimes spelled was the Cassava god and also a masculine fertility god, a sibling to Jurácan.
The relevance to this point is that the people ate Cassava quite frequently, being a staple to their diet, so much so that it became part of their pantheon, and an object of worship {the Maya of Central America also had deified food, Corn (Hun \[One] Hunahpu)}. So if and when something becomes spiritualized the logic would be that the concept is known and probably quite frequent in the culture, hence why the previously mentioned hurricanes likely had a large impact on the culture back then and we are very much seeing this play out right now.
Conclusions
Puerto Rico is not unaccustomed to hurricanes. Irma, Maria, and Fiona pay tribute to this fact. The word the people coined contributes to this fact. Having an etymological background and perspective when thinking about certain words and concepts can teach you much about the culture and the important aspects of said culture.
To learn about the history and culture surrounding certain words is to embolden the use of such language and provide a rich lens through which to see the world. (Originally written 09–24–2022)
