29/07/2024
Where does the name Haiti (Haiti) come from?
Haiti (Haiti) means "Land of the Gods" or "Holy Land" (in Arawak-taino). Not "Hilly terrain" as the French say.
"Bohio" means "round house" or "my house", "lakay mwen".
And "Kiskeya", in simple terms, means "mother of the land"?
"Ayiti Tome" is an African proverb, meaning "Ayiti is mine and all that surrounds it; is not a translation of "Haiti Thomas" as most Haitians want it?
Now the original name of the island was "Kiskeya". The Arawaks called it Haiti (Aï-Ti), because they believe it was the land of the goddess Aia (they nicknamed her "Yaya").
By the way, Taino means "good" just like "caona" means gold and Ana, a flower in Arawakan language...
Excerpt from a text published by Frantz Canell.
For more information, read "Face to Face around Haitian Identity". by Hervé Fanini-Lemoine -