Buccaneer Bear and the Lengthy Etymology
Buccaneer Bear is careful to explain, to anyone who will listen, that the term "buccaneer" derives from the Arawak word "buccan," a wooden frame used for smoking meat. Hence, "Boucanier," was the French word for "user of a boucan."
The name was used for French hunters and woodsmen in the Spanish West Indies, who became a lawless and piratical set after being driven from their trade by Spanish authorities in the late1600s.
British colonists anglicised the word "boucanier" to "buccaneer."
The name was universally adopted in 1684 when the first English translation of Alexandre Exquemelin's book The Buccaneers of America was published.
Interestingly enough, the popular term "barbeque" comes from the Haitian word "barbacoa," also used to describe the wooden smoking frame...
By the time Buccaneer Bear is done relating the lengthy etymology his poor little paws are very tired from making "air quotes."
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