Maku people

Maku (Macu, Máku, Mácu, Makú, Macú) or Maco (Mako, Máko, Macó, Makó) is a pejorative term referring to several hunter-gatherer peoples of the upper Amazon, derived from an Arawakan term ma-aku "do not speak / without speech" (compare the etymologies of the words "Niemcy" and "barbarian"). Nimuendajú (1950), for example, notes six peoples of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil that are known as 'Maku'. In linguistic literature, the term refers primarily to:

  • the Nadahup languages, a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, sometimes disambiguated from other Maku languages as Makú or Macú, though those forms can apply to any of the languages, or as Makuan. Such languages include Hup, spoken by Hupda, (Hupdá Makú, Makú-Hupdá, Macú De) and Guariba Maku
  • the closely related Nukak Makú and Kakwa (Macu de Cubeo, Macu de Desano, Macu de Guanano, Macú-Paraná)
  • the Maku-Auari language, the 'Maku' of Roraima and the Auari River, a possible language isolate of Brazil and Venezuela (also known as Mácu, Máko or Maku of Auari; endonym Jukude)
  • the Wirö dialect of Piaroa (sometimes disambiguated as Mako or Maco) a.k.a. Maco-Hoti

It has also been used for various other languages and peoples in the area, such as:

  1. ^ Pérez, Felipe. 1862. Jeografía física i politica de los Estados Unidos de Colombia, volume I. Bogotá: Imprenta de la Nacion.
  2. ^ a b c Hammarström, Harald. (2011) A Note on the Maco (Piaroan) Language of the lower Ventuari, Venezuela. Cadernos de etnolingüística 3(1). 1-11.
  3. ^ Humboldt, Alexander von. 1822. Voyage Aux Régions Équinoxiales Du Nouveau Continent, volume 7. Paris: N. Maze.
  4. ^ Humboldt, Alexander von; Bonpland, Aimé (1824). Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent: fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804 par Al. de Humboldt et A. Bonpland (in French). Libraire grecque-latine-allemande.
  5. ^ Migliazza, Ernesto (1978). "Makú, Sapé and Uruak languages. Current status and basic lexicon", AL 20/3: 133–140.