stink

en-adj

stink (comparative more stink, superlative most stink)

more stink (comparative)
most stink (superlative)

From Middle English stinken, from Old English stincan, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ-, *stegʷ- (“to push, thrust, strike”). Cognate with West Frisian stjonke (“to stink”), Dutch stinken (“to stink”), German stinken (“to stink”), Danish stinke (“to stink”), Swedish stinka (“to stink”), Icelandic stökkva (“to spring, leap, jump”).

cog

2013, Stabroek News, 19 February 2013, cited by Deborah Jan Osman Backer in a speech delivered in the National Assembly during the Budget Debate, 2013,
Everyone is up in arms but it smells stink because it smells of racism…

Spending hours in a “stink" morgue, being called “Taliban”, thinking of getting shot in the head by officers—memories of Venezuela that have left Hamza Mohammed, imam of the Montrose mosque, still trembling today.

2014 May 26, Taureef Mohammed, “Imam recounts 55-day Venezuelan horror”, in Trinidad and Tobago Guardian:

2016, Kei Miller, Augustown, New York: Pantheon, Chapter 1, p. 5,
[…] what Ma Taffy smells on this early afternoon makes her sit up straight. She smells it high and ripe and stink on the air, like a bright green jackfruit in season being pulled to the rocky ground below.

(Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica) Bad-smelling, stinky.


walk

From Middle English walk, walke, walc, from Old English *wealc (as in Old English wealcspinl) and ġewealc (“a rolling motion, attack”), from Proto-Germanic *walką. Cognate with Icelandic válk (“a rolling around, a tossing to and fro, trouble, distress”).

Twenty Acres of Land well kept in a Plantain Walk, will afford a very considerable Support, as Plantains are as hearty a Food as Eddoes, and the Plantain Walk may be a Nursery for declining Slaves, as well as to fatten old Cattle when they are past Labour.

1755, William Belgrove, A Treatise upon Husbandry or Planting, Boston, page 14:

For half a mile from Vaughansfield the road, now a mere track, leads through pastures and a coffee-walk to the foot of a very steep hill […]

1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 1, Letter 4, page 80:

1961, Wilson Harris, The Far Journey of Oudin, Book 2, Chapter 6, in The Guyana Quartet, London: Faber and Faber, 1985, p. 150,
One day he knew he would build this identical palace for himself. Not next to the road like now—where the present cottage was—but half a mile inside the coconut walk.

He couldn’t sleep and took to walking outside at night, to look at the stars, to feel the cool air, and for a long time wasn’t even conscious that he always ended up standing in the darkness of the cocoa walk staring at the shutters of Bridget’s room.

1995, Olive Senior, “Window”, in Discerner of Hearts, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 66:

(Caribbean, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica) An area of an estate planted with fruit-bearing trees.


pine

en-noun

pine (countable and uncountable, plural pines)

From Middle English pyne, from Latin pīnus, from Proto-Indo-European *peyH- (“sap, juice”). Cognate with Sanskrit पितु (pitu, “sap, juice, resin”). Doublet of pinus. Related to fat.

cog

"[…] I bought a pine-apple at the same time, which I gave to Sambo. Let's have it for tiffin; very cool and nice this hot weather." Rebecca said she had never tasted a pine, and longed beyond everything to taste one.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

Linda carried the oysters in one hand and the pineapple in the other. […] [S]he put the bottle of oysters and the pine on a little carved chair.

1918 June, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “Prelude”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, chapter 7, pages 38–39:

(archaic except Caribbean, Guyana, South Africa, Australia) A pineapple.


coolie

coolies (plural)
coolee (alternative)
cooly (alternative)
kuli (alternative)
quli (alternative)
koelie (alternative)

→ Macanese: cúli

→ Romanian: culi

From Hindustani क़ुली / قلی (qulī, “hired laborer”), possibly from Ottoman Turkish قول (kul, “servant”). Another theory says that it is named after Gujarati કોળી (koḷī), a Gujarati tribe or caste. Other forms occur in Bengali কুলি (kuli) and Tamil கூலி (kūli, “daily hire”). Possibly also influenced by Hindustani کولی (kolī) / कोली (kolī, “weaver; low-class”). In Kurdish Koile (کۆیلە) and Quli (قولى): Slave, Servant. Kawli (Keweli): Low-Class, Gypsy.
Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì, “hard labor”) may have been influenced by cognates of the above Hindi word in other languages and may have further influenced English.

Well, he and his troops had shown the koefietjies-the little coolies-how quickly and how easily Afrikaner explosive shells could knock it down.

1991, Larry Bond, Patrick Larkin, Vortex, page 56:

Even a coolie would have been better.

2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 199:

(Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica, Fiji, South Africa and other parts of Africa, ethnic slur) An Indian or a person of Indian descent.


dogfish

dogfish (plural)
dogfishes (plural)
dog-fish (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dogfish.wav

From dog + fish. Compare Greek σκυλόψαρο (skylópsaro, “dogfish”), Latin canicula (“dogfish”, literally “little dog”), Italian pescecane (“dogfish”), French chien de mer (literally “dog of the sea”), German Meerhund (literally “seadog”) and Hundfisch (“dogfish”), and English seadog. For non-Indo-European cognates, see Maltese kelb il-baħar (literally “dog of the sea”) and Turkish köpek balığı (“shark”), likely calques from Indo-European languages.

Dornhaiartige

small sharks of the Scyliorhinidae, Dalatiidae and Squalidae families

dogfish orientalis

a grunt native to coral reefs of the western Pacific Ocean

Plunket's dogfish (Centroscymnus plunketi

rasptooth dogfish (Etmopterus sheikoi

alternately known as Miroscyllium sheikoi

(Guyana) Ginglymostoma cirratum or Mustelus canis


cambio

(Guyana) bureau de change; currency exchange


banna

(Guyana) A young male friend; mate, buddy.


salara

Shop that sells a variety of cakes―sweet buns, tennis rolls, heavy bread, salara, butter flap, etc. as well as, cheese, sweets and aerated (soft) drinks

2003, Rudy A. S. Gafur, Stories from Guyana: a collection of jumbee tales:

It turned out that Margaret had spent some hard-earned cash to to the extent of about one shilling to purchase two pounds of flour. The flour was going to be used by Master Bird to make Salara, most of which would be sold in the village by Toomkin, for a jill each.

2009, Hanif Gulmahamad, Stories & Poems by a Guyanese Village Boy, page 57:

The edges and ends of things like macaroni pie, salara, bread pudding, fried (sautéed) potatoes stuck at the bottom of the fry pan or karahi... they all provide pleasurable bottoms, corners, edges and ends.

2013 February 23, Cyntia Nelson, “Bottoms, corners, edges and ends”, in Stabroek News:

Salara is a coconut "jelly roll" that is found in every Guyanese bakery or take-out restaurant. The coconut center is most often dyed red using food coloring, which I do not do, but you certainly may.

2016, Ramin Ganeshram, Cooking with Coconut: 133 Recipes for Healthy Eating:


boulanger

From Surinamese Dutch boulanger, from French beringène, from Arabic بَاذِنْجَان (bāḏinjān), from Persian بادنجان (bâdenjân). Doublet of aubergine.

der

Arabic بَاذِنْجَان (bāḏinjān)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:boulanger.


mannish

en-adj

mannish (comparative more mannish, superlative most mannish)

more mannish (comparative)
most mannish (superlative)

From Middle English mannish, mannisshe, mannysh, from earlier mennish (“human”), from Old English mennisċ (“human, natural, humane”), from Proto-West Germanic *mannisk, from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz (“human”). By surface analysis, man + -ish. Doublet of mennish, mense, and mensch.

inh

2014, Kurt Campbell, “Police left 15-year-old to die — Relatives,” inewsguyana.com, 11 March, 2014,
“They could have saved his life because he was still living, one woman said when she told the police that the boy was alive he said leave him to die, he’s wanted,” Giddings cried, adding that “I know he bad, he mannish, he does misbehave but I never know he was wanted… how can they make the claim without medical assistance.”

(Caribbean, Guyana) Impertinent; assertive.


marabunta

Uncertain. Perhaps ultimately from Kimbundu marimbondo, plural of rimbondo (“Sceliphron spirifex, a bright yellow and black wasp”), possibly via Portuguese marimbondo. Compare Sranan Tongo marbonsu (“wasp of the genus Polistes”).

cog

GE Bodkin (1918) “Notes on some British Guiana Hymenoptera exclusive of the Formicidae”, in Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London, volume 1917, Vol. 65: “The local name is marabunta. Destroying marabunta nests with a wad of dried palm leaves attached to a long pole soaked in kerosene and ignited is an interesting operation for an onlooker at a respectful distance”

Any of several large wasps known for their painful stings:

In and out he flies, bringing each time a tiny daub of mud, the building material of his choice. Before however, he has quite finished his dome or sealed it up he introduces a slender green worm, or more, to serve, it would seem, as larder for the children when they become conscious of their blissful existence and when they feel the pangs of hunger! This species of marabunta is often called the mason bee or fly, on account of its building powers or propensities.

Ignatius Scoles (1885) Sketches of African and Indian Life in British Guiana


tigerfish

en-noun

tigerfish (plural tigerfishes or tigerfish)

Any of a number of species of fish with stripes on their bodies, otherwise fearsome appearance, or aggressive predatory behavior, including, among others:

(Guyana) Any of the family Pimelodidae of catfishes.


koker

From Dutch koker. Doublet of cocker and quiver.


crappo

crappos (plural)
crapaud (alternative)
crapo (alternative)

Borrowed from Guyanese Creole English crappo, from French crapaud (“toad”), from Middle French crapaud, from Old French crapaut, crapot (“frog; toad”), from Frankish *krappō, *krappa (“claw, hook”) (because of a toad’s hooked feet; possibly from Proto-Indo-European *greb-) + -aud (suffix forming diminutives or nouns having a pejorative connotation). Doublet of crapaud.

Medical attention is immediately needed if "Fido" encounters a specie of huge toad, up to eight to ten inches round, called a "crappo", and decides to take it into his mouth to play with. This toad exudes a substance from glands in its skin which will cause profuse salivation, and sometimes, if absorbed, will cause the animal to become very excited with high fever and twitching uncontrollable motions.

1982, The Settler’s Handbook: Everything You Need to Know about St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, 6th edition, Christiansted, Saint Croix, United States Virgin Islands: Prestige Press, →OCLC, pages 37–38:

crapo (from the French crapaud, frog) a huge toad (Bufo marinus)

[2004, William L. Murphy, “A Trinbagonian Lexicon”, in A Birdwatchers’ Guide to Trinidad & Tobago (Birdwatchers’ Guides), Cley next the Sea, Norfolk: Prion, →ISBN, page 163:

One of the wild animals most familiar to all Trinidadians, even those with not the slightest interest in wildlife, is the crappo, that large toad which is seen so often at this time of year around houses and roads.

2007, Richard ffrench, “August”, in The Naturalist’s Year, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: Prospect Press, →ISBN, page 96:

Little crappos would find their way into the house. I was tormented by them. When in panic I feared they, like fluttering pigeons, were liable to do anything.

2011, Rahul Bhattacharya, chapter 7, in The Sly Company of People Who Care, London: Picador, →ISBN, page 86:

This sentry type wooden cubicle was built in the yard; not far from the house. It was not a very respectful bathroom in my opinion; especially since the fat crappos (crapaud/huge toad) took up residence. How I despised them.

2011 October 27, Helena Martin, “1947 Jacklow, Pomeroon River”, in Walk Wit’ Me …: All Ova Guyana, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, section 4 (Primitive Plumbing), page 19:

Crickets call out in the coming dark. Crappo answer.

2013, Gaiutra Bahadur, “Beautiful Woman Without a Nose”, in Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture, London: C[hristopher] Hurst & Co., →ISBN, Part 2 (Exploring), page 105:

(Caribbean, chiefly Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago) A toad (chiefly from the family Bufonidae).


labba

During the last three months, of my stay, labba meat (Cœlogenys paca), which is justly looked upon as the caviare of the bush, was fairly plentiful. This was due to a small black and white dog, belonging to one of the boat hands, which hunted labba excellently; sometimes killing four or five in a morning, and once even six.

1888, H. I. Perkins, “Seven months up the Puruni River”, in Timehri: The Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana:

Game included accouries (a kind of guinea pig), water-dogs (otters), labbas (hollow cheek pacas), deer, wild hogs, mypouris (tapirs), monkeys, sloths, water haas (capybaras), armadillos, snakes, tigers, jaguars, iguanas, manatees (sea cows), etc.

1995, Brian L. Moore, Cultural Power, Resistance, and Pluralism: Colonial Guyana, 1838-1900, McGill-Queen's Press:

Labba was my favourite meat. I say “was”, because that came to an end on one of my visits to Guyana.

2011, Helena Martin, Walk Wit’ Me...: All Ova Guyana, BalboaPress, page 54:


cook-up rice

(Guyana) A Guyanese dish made with rice, meat, and peas.


piai

From a Cariban language, ultimately from Proto-Cariban *pɨjati; compare Kari'na pyjai, Trió pïjai, Akurio piyahi, Wayana pïjai, Yao (South America) peeiai (“shaman”).

(Guyana) A shaman among the indigenous peoples of Guyana.


kangalang

/ˈkɑːŋɡəlɑːŋ/

Borrowed from Guyanese Creole English kangalang; further etymology unknown.

The NDP [National Democratic Party] represented the older generation of nationalists who considered the PPPs [People's Progressive Party] a bunch of "kangalangs" (rowdies) who were damaging the respectability they had fought for and built up over many years with the British.

1984, Reynold A. Burrowes, The Wild Coast: An Account of Politics in Guyana, Cambridge, Mass.: Schenkman Pub. Co., →ISBN, pages 48–49:

She is jobless, a burden to her mother, caught up in child-rearing and spends the rest of her time crying over the ‘kangalang’ who abandoned her and her child.

1995, Guyana Review, Georgetown, Guyana: Cosmopolitan Communications Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 31:

The editor of the Guiana Times described these women as a ‘Kangalang’ Party – consisting of domestics and market hucksters. Undoubtedly, the editor of this journal held the position that the Party's base was the working-class women, who in his opinion were not suitably qualified to assume leadership roles in the Government.

1998, Hazel M. Woolford, “Women in Guyanese Politics, 1812–1964”, in Winston F. McGowan, James G. Rose, David A[rthur] Granger, editors, Themes in African-Guyanese History, London, Hertford, Hertfordshire: Hansib Publications, published 2009, →ISBN, page 345:

My brothers got away one day and followed the kangalangs (ruffians) to the backdam, but they made the mistake of coming home soaking wet after swimming in the canal.

2011 October 27, Helena Martin, “1957–58 Middle Road, La Penitence”, in Walk Wit’ Me ...: All Ova Guyana, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, section 13 (The Backdam was Forbidden Territory), page 133:

The legislative arm of the Government of Guyana has seemingly been taken over by Kangalangs. Kangalangs are uncivil persons who have no regard for the norms of an institution, group or social gathering and act to deliberately create disarray in their environments, in such manner as to disrupt normal functioning.

2017 December 16, Ken Danns, “Kangalangs in Parliament”, in Sunday Chronicle, number 105129, Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana National Newspapers, published 17 December 2017 (print edition), →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-11-12, page 9, column 1:

Anything that needed investigation was the lies and distortions told by a kangalang like him, who have no regard for the integrity of the vote but wanted a specific outcome, at any cost.

2020 October 20, Lincoln Lewis, “Freddie [Kissoon] is obsessed with black men and women [letter]”, in Sharmain Grainger, editor, Kaieteur News, Georgetown, Guyana: National Media & Publishing Company, archived from the original on 2020-11-28, page 6, column 4:

(Guyana) A ruffian; also, an unprincipled person.


backdam

From back + dam. Sense 2 (“region of rural, undeveloped land”) is possibly a transferred use in Guyana of the term originally referring to a dam built on the side of coastal agricultural land furthest from the sea to prevent swamp water from flowing into the land, to mean the region in the vicinity of the dam.

The cows are kept in stables erected in small yards, and are fed with concentrates and cut grass, obtained from the back[-]dams of estates.

1934, Agricultural Journal of British Guiana, Georgetown, British Guiana: Department of Agriculture, British Guiana, →OCLC, page 115:

"An hour" to King George was plainly only an indeterminate period of time, for if we asked him how long it would take to walk from the river-bank to a village in the "back[-]dam", he nearly always replied, "Eh, man! 'Bout one hour!" The unit of an hour was never divided or multiplied and "one hour" turned out to be ten minutes on one occasion and two and a half hours on another.

1980, David Attenborough, “Spirits in the Night”, in The Zoo Quest Expeditions: Travels in Guyana, Indonesia, and Paraguay, Guildford, Surrey, London: The Lutterworth Press, →ISBN, Book 1 (Zoo Quest to Guyana), page 79:

The factory thrusted and pounded, puffed, and its afternoon siren screamed its deafening blast and warning, marking the hour for labourers miles away in the backdams and sugarcane fields of endeavour.

1988, Arnold Itwaru, Shanti, Leeds, Yorkshire: Peepal Tree Press, →ISBN, page 66:

This section, and for the most parts its residents, were considered to be of higher status and moral character than persons from the "backdam," the section farthest from the seaside and nearest to the community's farmland. In more general terms, the backdam was also the section of plantations where the slave quarters had been located, whereas the slave owner's and overseer's residences had been located in the front seaside section.

1996, Diane L. Wolf, “Situating Feminist Dilemmas in Fieldwork”, in Diane L. Wolf, editor, Feminist Dilemmas In Fieldwork, Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, →ISBN; republished Boulder, Colo.: Routledge, 2018, →ISBN:

A fellow named Tajoo came out of the back dam carrying a shovel on his shoulder.

2012, Hanif Gulmahamad, “Notorious Fowl Thieves of the Village”, in Guyana Memories, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 144:

The backdam is the region on the outskirts of plantations, which many slaves cultivated during and after slavery. The produce from backdam supplemented daily diet as well as income. Guyanese continue to actively farm backdams even today. In the Spanish Caribbean backdams are referred to as "conucos."

2013, “Notes”, in Hanna Garth, editor, Food and Identity in the Caribbean, London, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 145:

In fact, the artiste shared that at different points in his life, he counted papers for Stabroek News, was a cobbler, an office assistant, an accountant at Kuru Kuru Cooperative College and also worked in the backdams among other odd jobs.

2017 December 30, Joanna Dhanraj, “For Saiku Andrews, it’s all about the music”, in Stabroek News, Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana Publications, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-12-30:

(Guyana) A region of rural, undeveloped land, especially on the outskirts of a farm.


salipenter

salipenters (plural)
salempenta (alternative)

Borrowed from Guyanese Creole English [Term?].

A species of the polecat, and another of the fox, are destructive to the Indian's poultry; while the opossum, the guana, and salempenta, afford him a delicious morsel.

1825, Charles Waterton, “First Journey”, in Wanderings in South America, the North-west of the United States, and the Antilles, in the Years 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1824. […], London: Printed [by A[ugustus] Applegath] for J. Mawman, […], →OCLC, page 8:

The Salempenta or El Mateo, measuring from the tail to the nose three feet, is exceedingly ugly; colour chiefly a brownish green, with yellow spots; and marked in the most extraordinary hieroglyphical manner; [...] The Salempenta has (like the Chameleon, and several others of the same species) in some measure the faculty of changing its colour when in any way excited, either through fright or anger; [...]

1834, R[obert] Montgomery Martin, “British Guyana— …”, in History of the British Colonies. … In Five Volumes, volume II (Possessions in the West Indies), London: Cochrane and M‘Crone, […], →OCLC, page 104:

A large land-lizard, called the Salempenta, or Salipanta, is likewise common, and is said to destroy fowls.

1869, Greville John Chester, “British Guiana”, in Transatlantic Sketches in the West Indies, South America, Canada, and the United States, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 131:

Salempenta (Teius Teguexin).—This fine lizard is sometimes called the Safeguard, because it is supposed to give notice of the approach of the alligator, just as the African monitors are believed to warn travellers against the crocodile. [...] Like the iguana, the Salempenta affords very delicate food, which is thought to resemble the flesh of a very delicate young chicken. New comers are at first averse to eating a lizard of any description, but they very soon find out their mistake, and would even prefer an iguana or Salempenta cutlet to a chicken.

1879, J[ohn] G[eorge] Wood, “Explanatory Index”, in Charles Waterton, Wanderings in South America, the North-west of the United States, and the Antilles, in the Years 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1824. […] Edited, with Biographical Introduction and Explanatory Index, new edition, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 467:

How far foxes, ocelots, hawks, yellow-tail and other snakes, and salempentas, contribute towards keeping down rats by destroying them for food is not easily determined. That the last named is an excellent ratter, I know from actual observation.

1894, S. R. Cochran, “Some Enemies of Our Cane-fields”, in James Rodway, editor, Timehri: The Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, volume VIII (New Series), Demerara: J. Thomson, →OCLC, page 104:

I know very little about the details of the regular diet of salempentas, but fowls' and lizards' eggs and chickens are favorites. My nephew wounded a plover and as it was only slightly hurt, he tethered it with a string under the house. In a short time he found a large salempenta on the end of the string, having swallowed the bird.

1919, William Beebe, quoting Edgar Beckett, “Field Notes on the Lizards of Kartabo, British Guiana, and Caripito, Venezuela. Part 3. Teiidae, Amphisbaenidae and Scincidae.”, in [Henry] Fairfield Osborn [Jr.], editor, Zoologica: Scientific Contributions of the New York Zoological Society, volume 30, part 1, New York, N.Y.: New York Zoological Society, published 27 April 1945, →OCLC, page 25, column 2:

Lizards usually have white flesh, tasting more like fowl than anything else. The Salempenta lizard of Guiana, which is amphibious and unpleasant to behold, is a favourite dish of the Indians.

1922, Chambers’s Journal, volume XCIX, part 139, London, Edinburgh: W[illiam] & R[obert] Chambers […], →OCLC, page 421, column 1:

I could sting you for a bounty of reparations, but keep your money and let me talk like dis and dat, let me say I come from the tribe of Bongo-Bongo; that I am germane and first-cousin to jungle beasts like anthropophagi, hermaphrodites, salipenters and all the other creatures dreamt of by your writers or discovered by your travellers.

1999, David Dabydeen, A Harlot’s Progress, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:

Along its bank a salipenter, the colour of the mud, sped furtively, its eyes on some domestic fowls picking at the verge of the mud hole.

2004, Deloris Craig, “The Crossing”, in Labba and Creek Water Stories from the Caribbean, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire: Nelson Thornes, →ISBN, page 118:

Their [iguanas'] eggs and meat are food resources for predators such as salipenter (Tegu lizard), hawks, vultures, and humans.

2012 January 22, “Iguana”, in Stabroek News, Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana Publications, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2012-02-06:

Slowly, he peeped from behind his hiding place just in time to see a black-and-white furry object dash behind a salipenter.

2015 October 28, Rohan Singh, chapter 1, in Adventures of Suliman and the Sandopie, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN:

Fruits and a ‘salipenter (large lizard)’ were what he used to help with his hunger.

2016 August 11, Neil Primus, “Goings and Comings”, in Nigel Williams, editor, Guyana Chronicle, Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana National Newspapers, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-03-21:

(Guyana) A tegu lizard (genus Tupinambis), especially the gold tegu (Tupinambis teguixin).


manicole

Borrowed from Guyanese Creole English manicole, from Lokono manaka. The English word is cognate with Tariana mánaka, Yucuna manakóla.

Next to the mangrove and mora, the most abundant vegetation is supplied by palms of various species. Of these the manicole palm (Euterpe edulis) is the most prominent, [...] Indeed, the dense "bush" there consists almost entirely of enormous numbers of manicoles [...]

1883 December, [Everard Ferdinand im Thurn], “Between the Pomeroon and the Orinoco”, in E. F. im Thurn, editor, Timehri: Being the Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, volume II, part II, Demerara: J. Thomson, →OCLC, pages 230–231:

A house fifty feet by twenty, built in the usual style, wattled with manicoles, thatched with dallabana leaves, with sleeping rooms upstairs, could be built for fifty dollars, materials and labour included.

1883 December, Alexander Winter, “The Berbice and Its Tributaries”, in E[verard] F[erdinand] im Thurn, editor, Timehri: Being the Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, volume II, part II, Demerara: J. Thomson, →OCLC, pages 301–302:

Arawak males employ the leaf of the manicole palm (Euterpe oleracea) for similar purposes of temporary expediency, in at least four different ways, [...]

1911, Walter E[dmund] Roth, “Some Technological Notes from the Pomeroon District, British Guiana. (Part III.)”, in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, volume XLI, London: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 72:

No differences were observed between seedlings of the three clustered manicole varieties.

1998, Tulemore Ruth van Andel, Palm Heart Harvesting in Guyana’s North-west District: Exploitation and Regeneration of Euterpe Oleracea Swamps (Tropenbos-Guyana Reports; 98-1), Georgetown, Guyana: Tropenbos-Guyana Programme; Utrecht: Herbarium Utrecht University, →OCLC:

Palm heart is harvested from the manicole palm, Euterpe oleracea, in the Guyana Northwest. [...] The GFC [Guyana Forestry Commission] annually reports the productions of manicole palm heart and mangrove bark. For manicole, 2.7 million pieces (palm-hearts or "stems") were produced in 2008, as well as 12,619 pieces of mangrove bark.

2009, Jorge Trevin, Robert Nasi, “Non-timber Forest Products (NTFP)”, in Forest Law Enforcement and Governance and Forest Practices in Guyana, Bogor Barat, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research, pages 22–23:

Euterpe oleracea
Euterpe oleracea#Translingual

(Guyana) A palm tree of the genus Euterpe which is native to Central America, South America, and the West Indies; especially the açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea).

For theſe erections [huts] not more than two articles are wanting; the firſt the manicole, by the French called latanie, and here paraſalla, or the pine-tree; and the ſecond the nebees, called by the French liannes, by the Spaniards bejucos, and in Surinam tay-tay. The manicole-tree, which is of the palm-tree ſpecies, is moſtly found in marſhy places, and is always a proof of a rich and luxurious ſoil.

[1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter X, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, pages 230–231:

Prestoea tenuiramosa [...] "Manicole palm" (Guy[ana]), "manacachilla" (Ven[ezuela]).

1995, Andrew Henderson, Gloria Galeano, Rodrigo Bernal, “Prestoea”, in Field Guide to the Palms of the Americas, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 128, column 2:

Pretoea tenuiramosa (Dammer) [...] manicole prestoea, manicole palm

2013, M[iroslav] M. Grandtner, Julien Chevrette, compilers, Dictionary of Trees: Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology: […], Amsterdam, Boston, Mass.: Academic Press, →ISBN, paragraph 12967, page 533, column 1:

The structure [the Umana Yana] was erected some 43 years ago. The historic, thatched-roof benab served as a leading centre for cultural events in the city and its roof, constructed from thatched allibanna and manicole palm leaves, had stretched some 55 feet into the air.

[2015 March 19, “Reconstruction of Umana Yana likely for mid-year start”, in Mark Ramotar, editor, Guyana Chronicle, number 104133, Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana National Newspapers, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-05-30, page 13, columns 1–3:

(Guyana, chiefly attributively) The Guyana manicole palm or manacachilla (Prestoea tenuiramosa), a species of palm tree native to South America; also, the wood of this tree.


awara

awara (plural)
awaras (plural)
awarra (alternative)

Borrowed from Guyanese Creole English awara, from Lokono awara.

The food found in its stomach was the seed of the awarra, a species of palm (Aristocaryon spec?)

1841, Robert H[ermann] Schomburgk, “Banded Schizodon. Schizodon fasciatus, Agas.”, in William Jardine, editor, Fishes of Guiana. Part I (The Naturalist’s Library, Ichthyology; III), Edinburgh: W[illiam] H[ome] Lizars, […]; London: S. Highley, […], →OCLC, page 253:

The Ita palm supplies the drink called Belteerie; of the fruit of the Tooroo palm a drink resembling chocolate is made; the Awara palm also yields a drink; the Guava, Souari, and tamarind.

1857, J. O. Bagdon, “Vegetable Products”, in Guiana: Geographical and Historical. […], Georgetown, Demerara, British Guiana: R. Short, →OCLC, pages 16–17:

Handsome bracelets and rings are carved out of the nut of the Awara palm (Astrocaryum Awara); it is black, very hard, and bears a high polish.

1871 September 1, “International Exhibition. The French Pictures.”, in The Art-Journal, volume X (New Series; volume XXXIII overall), London: Virtue & Co., →OCLC, page 220, column 1:

Oil of the awara palm. This palm is very common on the coast of French Guiana; the fruit grows to a fine bunch, and ripens and falls between February and April. It is one of the most useful of trees, for every particle of it is utilized.

1876 June, “France. Cayenne. Report by Consul Wooldridge on the Trade and Commerce of French Guiana for the Year 1875.”, in Reports from Her Majesty’s Consuls on the Manufactures, Commerce, &c., of Their Consular Districts. Part IV. […] (Accounts and Papers; 34 (Commercial Reports—continued)), volume LXXV, London: Harrison and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 850, column 1:

The five principal palms of the British Guiana rivers are the trooly, the aeta, the cocorite, the manicole, and the awarra, and all these grow in the greatest profusion on the banks of the Berbice.

1885, The Gardeners’ Magazine, volume XXVIII, London: Gardeners’ Magazine Office, →OCLC, page 642:

Above Ahwiemah, and upwards until the sandy ridges in the neighbourhood of Youacourie creek are met with, the district is almost a continuous swamp, in which the prickly awarra palms (Astrocaryum) luxuriate and in some places completely line the riverside.

1890 June, [J. J. Quelch], “On the Upper Berbice River”, in J. J. Quelch, editor, Timehri: Being the Journal of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society of British Guiana, volume IV (New Series), part I, Demerara: J. Thomson, […]; London: E[dward] Stanford, […], →OCLC, page 317:

An Amerindian informant living in the area stated that it fed on fruits of the Awarra Palm Astrocaryum tucumoides and the Cuyuru Palm A. tucuma.

1976 June 18, E. McLoughlin, P. J. K. Burton, “Notes on the Hawk-headed Parrot Deroptyus accipitrinus”, in J. F. Monk, editor, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club, volume 96, number 2, London: British Ornithologists’ Club, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 69:

At dawn the beautiful wife asked Bási Kodjó to go off to the forest with her to collect awara palm seeds. [...] Bási Kodjó climbed the awara tree and began picking fruit. Suddenly the woman turned back into her natural form, a Bush Cow, and called out to her relatives. [...] Bási Kodjó had turned himself into a tiny awara palm thorn and hidden by sticking himself into a leaf.

1991, Richard Price, Sally Price, “Introduction: Collective Fabulation”, in Two Evenings in Saramaka, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 18:

This owl nests mostly in cavities in trees. On 23 June 2006, a nest was discovered at Awala-Yalimapo [...]. The nest cavity was situated on top of a dead beheaded awara palm tree Astrocaryum vulgare. The palm tree with a height of c. 5 m and a diameter of c. 15 cm stood in the middle of a small group of bushes, low trees and awara palms next to the parking of the primary school.

2017, Olivier Claessens, Nyls de Pracontal, Johan Ingels, “The Owls of French Guiana”, in Paula L. Enríquez, editor, Neotropical Owls: Diversity and Conservation, Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, page 426:

(Guyana, chiefly attributively) The palm tree Astrocaryum vulgare which is native to the Amazon Rainforest region.

The awara, or avoira, which is leſs remarkable for the excellence of its flavour than its beautiful appearance, grows upon a ſpecies of palm-tree, and is of an oval form, about the ſize of an Orlean plumb, and of a rich deep orange colour, nearly approaching to red.

1796, J[ohn] G[abriel] Stedman, chapter I, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; […], volume I, London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 22:

With this prepared cutting-pole they succeeded, after a while, in detaching the cluster of palms, which fell heavily to the ground, scattering the awarra nuts in all directions. But with the bunch of awarras came also mother coomby with her brood of seven young ones on her back,—their long prehensile tails firmly entwined around the tail of the old lady.

1881, Charles Daniel Dance, Chapters from a Guianese Log-book: Or The Folk-lore and Scenes of Sea-coast and River Life in British Guiana; […], Georgetown, Demarara, British Guiana: Royal Gazette Establishment, →OCLC, page 95:

On this plot of land he grow a variety of crops, and periodically a crate—sometimes two crates—would turn up, sent down by Uncle Bishop on the launch from Don Carlos. In it would be no conventional vegetables like sweet-potatoes, cassavas or yams, but really exciting jungle products—a small sackful of cookerits (the fruit of the cookerit palm, sweet and oily), another sack containing awaras (bright orange and meaty, also from a palm), [...]

1963, Edgar Mittelholzer, A Swarthy Boy, London: Putnam, →OCLC, page 50:

Jubbing or taws, was played with marbles or awara seeds. The awara fruit was a bright, orange coloured fruit which came from a species of palm tree. The flesh of the awara fruit would be stripped off by teeth, and the seed rubbed against concrete. The result would be a smooth, black, shiny awara seed, called a taw.

1994, Bernard Heydorn, Walk Good Guyana Boy, Newmarket, Ont.: Learning Improvement Centre, →ISBN, page 77:

As a punishment, they put him to sit on top of a tall awarra palm. The trunk of the tree was thickly covered with sharp thorns, which prevented him from climbing down. [...] One day, as a group of spiders arrived to eat the ripe yellow awarra on the tree, they were shocked to find Kamoa sitting among the branches.

2011, Odeen Ishmael, “The War of the Birds”, in Guyana Legends: Folktales of the Indigenous Amerindians, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 92:

(Guyana) The oily edible fruit of this tree, which has a yellowish-orange skin and pulp, and a large black seed. Both the pulp and the seed yield oil.


shanto

(Guyana) A form of Guyanese music, related to calypso and mento.


waracabra

waracabras (plural)
warakabra (alternative)

[…] it may be a lithe, graceful ocelot, so intent on stalking an unsuspecting bush-turkey or a sleepy monkey that your nearness is unnoticed; or again it may be a flock of trumpet-birds or waracabras feeding and dancing in some tiny open glade.

1929, Alpheus Hyatt Verrill, Thirty Years in the Jungle, page 115:

Frequently the growling of our lorry would frighten up coveys of waracabra—black jungle birds somewhat resembling guinea fowls, but with larger and longer legs.

1953, Robert H. Pierson, Paddles Over the Kamarang: The Story of the Davis Indians, page 7:

The Grey-winged Trumpeter (Psophia crepitans) is distributed north of the Amazon River, in Ecuador, Colombia, south Venezuela, north-east Brazil, north-eastern Peru and the Guianas. Locally the species is known as ‘Waracabra‘.

2011 September 18, “Grey-winged Trumpeter”, in Stabroek News:


ground provisions

In Barbadoes, I doubt whether the corn, (it is Indian corn not wheat) and the ground provisions (I mean yams, and other roots) raised in the island, are sufficient to maintain the inhabitants for three months […]

1775, Richard Glover, The Substance of the Evidence on the Petition Presented by the West-India Planters and Merchants, London, page 40:

There is little cane grown in St. Mary: most of the cultivation is in fruit and ground provisions.

1890, Edgar Mayhew Bacon, Eugene Murray Aaron, The New Jamaica, New York: Walbridge, page 174:

Thirty Arawak Indians were brought to teach the English how to plant cassava, yams, and other ground provisions […]

1912, James Rodway, chapter 2, in Guiana: British, Dutch, and French, London: T. Fisher Unwin, page 59:

Lydia has made stewed chicken, rice, string beans, and the ground provisions that Mr. Sinclair likes: dasheen, cassava, and sweet potatoes.

2009, Elizabeth Nunez, chapter 7, in Anna In-Between, New York: Akashic Books, pages 82–83:

(Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica) Starchy staple vegetables grown in the ground such as yam, taro, cassava and sweet potato.


ground food

The men devoured the delicious beef stew, boiled ground food and dumplings then the drinking began.

2021, H. M. Hanlan, Jamaica's Plantain Tarts, & Marcus Garvey:

ground provisions
ground provisions#English

(Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica) Synonym of ground provisions


hard food

Hard food, such as yams, coco and dasheen, came from Country, and sometimes meat too.

2012, Claudette Beckford-Brady, Sweet Home, Jamaica, page 382:

(Caribbean, Guyana, Jamaica) Starchy staple fruits and vegetables.


patwa

(Guyana) Any of the genus Cichlasoma of fishes.


chunkay

en-verb

chunkay (third-person singular simple present chunkays, present participle chunkaying, simple past and past participle chunkayed)

chunkays (present singular third-person)
chunkaying (participle present)
chunkayed (participle past)
chunkayed (past)

Meanwhile, thinly slice garlic and assemble some whole jeera and black/brown mustard seeds (these are optional if you do not have) for the tadka (to chunkay the dhal).

2020 October 31, Cynthia Nelson, “Extraordinary Dhal”, in Stabroek News:

(Guyana, cooking) To add hot oil and spices (especially garlic) to food


powis

Compare Surinamese Dutch pauwies, Sranan Tongo powisi.

Whenever Domingo and her husband go hunting, they take their dogs, which, she boasted, are experts in catching agouti, labba, deer, turtle and powis.

2017 April 23, Joanna Dhanraj, “Wowetta”, in Stabroek News:

(Guyana) A black curassow (Crax alector).


ketcha

Go outside with your children if you have space and do some simple stretching exercises early in the morning. Playing 'ketcha', or kicking or throwing a ball around helps your blood circulate.

2021 February 1, “Teach your child today”, in The Guyana Chronicle, archived from the original on 2024-09-21:

(Guyana, playground games) A game similar to tag and hide and seek, in which one player is chosen to chase the others and a player who is caught becomes the new chaser.


pagalee

en-adj

pagalee (comparative more pagalee, superlative most pagalee)

more pagalee (comparative)
most pagalee (superlative)

Borrowed from Hindi पगला (paglā, “crazy person, madman”) and Hindi पागल (pāgal, “mad, crazy”).

bor+

My cousin is in 8th grade and he has 163 Instagram followers. How does a pagalee coolie boy like him have that many?

2015 March 14, @TreezyG, Twitter, archived from the original on 2024-09-21:

(Guyana, slang, derogatory) Extremely stupid or foolish; mentally retarded.


prags

From mostly-obsolete prog (“provisions, food, supplies”), reflecting a Caribbean pronunciation.

"When the bullet hit Charlie, he spin like a leaf in the wind. Charlie turn a leaf spinning in the wind. Charlie boy, rustling was not for you, old man! Should've stick to pragging. Prags, boy, prags! The whole country livin' by prags."

1985 Summer, Jan Carew, “Tilson Ezekiel Alias Ti-Zek”, in New England Review and Bread Loaf Quarterly, volume VII, number 4, Lyme, N.H.: Kenyon Hill Publications Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 618:

(Guyana) Handouts, financial aid (sometimes with the implication of having been acquired dishonestly).

Hosts take pride in offering their guests the best of what they have and try to laden them with choice goods as "prags" (gifts) to carry away.

1991, Brackette F. Williams, Stains on My Name, War in My Veins: Guyana and the Politics of Cultural Struggle, Durham, N.C., London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, pages 102–103:

(Guyana) Small gifts customarily given to guests.


typee

Stephen continued to see more of Sarah, after the Black Friday riots. He had typee for her; she was constantly in his thoughts.

1994, Bernard Heydorn, chapter 34, in Walk Good Guyana Boy, Newmarket, Ont.: Learning Improvement Centre, →ISBN, page 205:

(Guyana) Intense lovesickness; infatuation, limerence.


caddy ole punch

en-noun

caddy ole punch (plural caddy ole punches)

(Guyana) A kind of homemade kite (flying toy).