Maku (Macu, Máku, Mácu, Makú, Macú) or Maco (Mako, Máko, Macó, Makó) is a pejorative term referring to several

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

peoples of the upper Amazon, derived from an

Arawakan Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient Indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...

term ''ma-aku'' "do not speak / without speech" (compare the etymologies of the words " Niemcy" and "

barbarian A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

"). 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 The Nadahup languages, also known as Makú (Macú) or ''Vaupés–Japurá'', form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name ''Maku people (disambiguation), Makú'' is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan language ...

, 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'') Maco-Hoti It has also been used for various other languages and peoples in the area, such as: *the

Cofán language Cofán or Kofán, known in the language itself as ''Aingae'', is the primary language of the Cofán people, an indigenous group whose ancestral territory lies at the interface between the Andean foothills and Amazonia in the northeast of Ecuador ...

a.k.a. Mako, Cofán-Makú, or Maco-Cuyabeno. Maco-Cuyabeno was an unattested language that may have been a dialect of the

(Pérez 1862:475), and was spoken on the Cuyabeno River near the headwaters of the

Aguarico River The Aguarico River (, meaning "rich water") is a river in northeastern Ecuador. It is the main river of the Sucumbíos province. In the last part of its course it marks the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border. It empties into the Napo River. It has a le ...

in southeastern Colombia.Hammarström, Harald. (2011
A Note on the Maco (Piaroan) Language of the lower Ventuari, Venezuela
''Cadernos de etnolingüística'' 3(1). 1-11. *the

Piaroa language Piaroa (also called ''Guagua ~ Kuakua ~ Quaqua, Adole ~ Ature, Wo’tiheh'') is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela, native to the Huottüja people. Loukotka (1968) reports that it is spoken along the Sipapo River, Orinoco River, an ...

a.k.a. Maco-Ventuari. Maco-Ventuari ( Wirö) is a language variety spoken on the

Ventuari River The Ventuari River is the largest tributary of the Orinoco in southern Venezuela. The Ventuari flows from south-central Venezuela in the Guiana Highlands southwest into the Orinoco River. It is long and its major tributary is the Manapiare River ...

in Venezuela that is closely related to the

spoken today. It was documented in a 38-word list by Humboldt (1822:155-157). *the

Puinave language Puinave, Waipunavi (Guaipunabi) or Wanse ( ; ) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela. It is generally considered to be a language isolate. Demographics There are about 6,800 people in 32 communities along the banks of the Inírida ...

along the Negro and

Japurá River The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a long river in the Amazon basin. It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River. Course The river rises as the Caquetá River in the Andes in southwest Colombia. The Caqu ...

s a.k.a. Mácu, Macú, MakúMigliazza, Ernesto (1978). "Makú, Sapé and Uruak languages. Current status and basic lexicon", AL 20/3: 133–140. *the

Achagua language Achagua, or Achawa (), is an Arawakan language spoken in the Meta Department of Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in N ...

a.k.a. Makú-Achagua *the

Arutani–Sape languages Arutani–Sape, also known as Awake–Kaliana or Kalianan, is a proposed language family that includes two of the most poorly documented languages in South America, both of which are now moribund or extinct. They are at best only distantly relat ...

*the

Yanomaman languages Yanomaman, also as Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, and Yanomamana (also Shamatari, Shirianan), is a family of languages spoken by about 20,000 Yanomami, Yanomami people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas State, Braz ...

a.k.a. Macú-Yanomami *the

Carabayo language The Carabayo (Caraballo) language is a poorly documented language spoken by the Carabayo people, also known as '' Yuri'' and ''Aroje'', an uncontacted Amazonian people of Colombia living in at least three longhouses, one of several suspected unc ...

a.k.a. Macú-Carabayo *the

Marueta people In a tribe called Marueta, located in Venezuela, South America, live the Maco people. They are one of several tribes called "Maco" by the Arawak peoples The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of nort ...

of Venezuela

References

{{Reflist *Francois Correa
Introducción a la Colombia Amerindia
Pejorative terms for hunter-gatherers

See also

References