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LANGUAGE | HERITAGE | BORIKÉN
‘Jajom’ is Our Indigenous Taíno Word for ‘Gracias’
Inglés is not our mother tongue
Ni tampoco español yours
~ From the author’s poem, ‘Spanglish Pride’
Two and a half years ago, I returned to my ancestral motherland. I say ‘return’ though I never lived here [before November 30, 2021].
Being on this sacred land of Borikén continues to teach me so very much. One of the things I’m learning is that our people were not erased and so much of what I read in history books, as well as online was written by our colonizers: the first, los españoles (the Spaniards), the second, los yanquis (the U.S. ‘Americans’).
Our Indigenous Taíno and Iñeri (also known as Igneri) were Arawak Peoples reported to have lived here since 1000 CE (though I wonder if it was centuries earlier!). Via petroglyphs, we understand their written communications were carved in stone.
But what about their spoken language?
There’s much to cover on this topic. For now, I wanted to share one of the first Indigenous Taíno (might also be Iñeri, not sure) words I learned from my friend, Po Araní.
Jajom (or Hahom): pronounced HAH HOM
It is the equivalent of ‘gracias’ / ‘thank you.’
