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annatto
noun
Examples of annatto in a Sentence
Word History
borrowed from Cumaná (Cariban language of coastal Venezuela) onoto or a cognate Cariban source
Note: A loan from a Cariban language, but the direct source is not certain; it may have been a trade word transmitted through local Spanish. The word is first attested in Robert Harcourt's A Relation of a Voyage to Guiana (1613) ("There bee many rare and singular commodities for Diers, of which sort there is a red Berry called Annoto, which being rightly prepared by the Indians, dyeth a perfect and sure Orange-tawnie in Silke …"). (Friederici, in Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch, Hamburg, 1947, attributes the word inaccurately to Walter Raleigh's The Discovery of Guiana [1596]; the word was used by Raleigh in the form onotto, but only in the manuscript journal of his 1617 voyage.) The word onoto, glossed achiote, is listed in Matias Ruiz Blanco's Arte y Tesoro de la Lengua Cumanagota (1690); for later Cariban attestations see Friederici's Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch. The more general Cariban word for "annatto" is represented by Surinamese and Guyanese Carib (Karina) kusewe (see Friederici, also Henk Courtz's A Carib Grammar and Dictionary [Magoria Books, 2008]).
1629, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near annatto
Cite this Entry
“Annatto.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/annatto. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
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annatto
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annatto
nounMore from Merriam-Webster on annatto
Nglish: Translation of annatto for Spanish Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about annatto
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