Editing Barbados (section)

== Etymology ==

The name "Barbados" is from either the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] term {{lang|pt|os barbados}} or the Spanish equivalent, {{lang|es|los barbados}}, both meaning "the bearded ones".<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GekeS6uMj38C&dq=%22Barbados%22++Portuguese+spanish+bearded&pg=PA104 |title=To the Editor of the Colonial Journal |author=Dr Ainslie |editor=Dr Ainslie |journal=The Colonial Journal |publisher=G. Davidson |issue=1 |year=1816 |location=London |pages=104 |access-date=4 April 2023 |archive-date=18 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418063559/https://books.google.com/books?id=GekeS6uMj38C&dq=%22Barbados%22++Portuguese+spanish+bearded&pg=PA104 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fiske |first=Amos Kidder |author-link=Amos Kidder Fiske |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XUhsofUyHq4C&dq=%22Barbados%22++Portuguese+spanish+bearded&pg=PA357 |title=The West Indies: A History of the Islands of the West Indian Archipelago, Together with an Account of Their Physical Characteristics, Natural Resources, and Present Condition |date=1899 |publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons |pages=357 |access-date=4 April 2023 |archive-date=18 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418063558/https://books.google.com/books?id=XUhsofUyHq4C&dq=%22Barbados%22++Portuguese+spanish+bearded&pg=PA357 |url-status=live }}</ref> It is unclear whether "bearded" refers to the long, hanging roots of the bearded [[fig-tree]] (''[[Ficus citrifolia]]''), a species of [[banyan]] indigenous to the island, or to the allegedly bearded [[Kalinago]] (Island Caribs) who once inhabited the island, or, more fancifully, to a visual impression of a beard formed by the sea foam that sprays over the outlying coral reefs. In 1519, a map produced by the [[Genoa|Genoese]] mapmaker [[Visconte Maggiolo]] showed and named Barbados in its correct position.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} Furthermore, the island of [[Barbuda]] in the [[Leeward Islands|Leewards]] is very similar in name and was once named "{{lang|es|Las Barbudas|italic=unset}}" by the Spanish.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The original name for Barbados in the [[Pre-Columbian era]] was {{lang|awd|Ichirouganaim}}, according to accounts by descendants of the Indigenous [[Arawakan languages|Arawakan]]-speaking tribes in other regional areas, with possible translations including "Red land with white teeth"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Barbados the Red Land with White Teeth: Home of the Amerindians |url=http://www.barbmuse.org.bb/ |access-date=14 May 2010 |publisher=Barbados Museum & Historical Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505161730/http://www.barbmuse.org.bb/ |archive-date=5 May 2010 |url-status=dead |quote=A temporary exhibit which examined some of the preliminary excavations conducted at the dig site at Heywoods, St. Peter.}}</ref> or "Redstone island with teeth outside (reefs)"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Barbados – Geography / History |url=http://www.coucouandflyingfish.com/where.php |access-date=14 May 2010 |year=2008 |publisher=Fun 'N' Sun Publishing Inc. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213141038/http://www.coucouandflyingfish.com/where.php |archive-date=13 December 2010 |url-status=usurped}}</ref> or simply "Teeth".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pantribalconfederacy.com/confederacy/News/pdf/guyana_consul_visit.pdf |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160524005039/http%3A//www.pantribalconfederacy.com/confederacy/News/pdf/guyana_consul_visit.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 May 2016 |title=Guyana Consul (Barbados) Visit to Former Amerindian Village Site in B'dos |first=Norman |last=Faria |date=17 June 2009 |work=Guyana Chronicle |publisher=Pan-Tribal Confederacy of Indigenous Tribal Nations |page=2 |access-date=14 May 2010 |quote=Adjacent to the park, there is still a fresh water stream. This as a main reason the village was here. A hundred or so metres away is the sea and a further five hundred metres [{{cvt|500|m|yd |-1 |disp=out}}] out across a lagoon was the outlying reef where the Atlantic swells broke on the coral in shallow waters. As an aside, the word "''Ichirouganaim''", said to be an Arawak word used by the Amerindians to describe Barbados, is thought to refer to the "teeth" imagery of the waves breaking on the reefs off most of southern and eastern coasts. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Drewett |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Drewett |title=Prehistoric Barbados |publisher=Barbados Museum and Historical Society |year=1991 |isbn=1-873132-15-8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Drewett |first1=Peter |title=Prehistoric Settlements in the Caribbean: Fieldwork on Barbados, Tortola and the Cayman Islands |date=2000 |publisher=Archetype Publications Ltd. |isbn=1-873132-22-0}}</ref>

Colloquially, Barbadians refer to their home island as "Bim" or other nicknames associated with Barbados, including "Bimshire". The origin is uncertain, but several theories exist. The [[National Cultural Foundation]] of Barbados says that "Bim" was a word commonly used by [[slave]]s, and that it derives from the [[Igbo language|Igbo]] term {{lang|ig|bém}} from {{lang|ig|bé mụ́}} meaning "my home, kindred, kind";<ref name="Carrington, Sean 2007 25">{{Cite book |author=Carrington, Sean |title=A~Z of Barbados Heritage |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aSccAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Bimshire%22|year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan Caribbean Publishers Limited |page=25 |isbn=978-0-333-92068-8}}</ref> the Igbo phoneme {{IPA|ig|e|}} in the Igbo orthography is very close to {{IPAc-en|ɪ}}.<ref name=Allsopp2003>{{cite book |title=Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage |first=Richard |last=Allsopp |author2=Allsopp, Jeannette |page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcari0000unse/page/101 101] |publisher=University of the West Indies Press |year=2003 |isbn=9766401454 |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcari0000unse/page/101}}</ref> The name could have arisen due to the relatively large percentage of [[Igbo people|Igbo]] slaves from modern-day southeastern [[Nigeria]] arriving in Barbados in the 18th century.<ref name=EltisRichardson1997>{{cite book |title=Routes to Slavery: Direction, Ethnicity, and Mortality in the Transatlantic Slave Trade |first=David |last=Eltis |author2=Richardson, David |page=87 |publisher=Routledge |year=1997 |access-date=24 November 2008 |url={{GBurl|kuXEzQZQmawC |pg=PA87}} |isbn=978-0-7146-4820-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Black Experience and the Empire |first=Philip D. |last=Morgan |author-link=Philip D. Morgan |author2=Hawkins, Sean |isbn=0-19-926029-X |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |page=82 |url={{GBurl|kG824iVy1BsC |pg=PA82}} }}</ref> The words "Bim" and "Bimshire" are recorded in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' and ''[[Chambers Dictionary|Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionaries]]''. Another possible source for "Bim" is reported to be in the ''Agricultural Reporter'' of 25 April 1868, where the Rev. N. Greenidge (father of one of the island's most famous scholars, [[Abel Hendy Jones Greenidge]]) suggested that Bimshire was "introduced by an old planter listing it as a county of England". Expressly named were "Wiltshire, Hampshire, Berkshire and Bimshire".<ref name="Carrington, Sean 2007 25"/> Lastly, in the ''Daily Argosy'' (of Demerara, i.e. Guyana) of 1652, there is a reference to Bim as a possible corruption of "Byam", the name of a Royalist leader against the Parliamentarians. That source suggested the followers of Byam became known as "Bims" and that this became a word for all Barbadians.<ref name="Carrington, Sean 2007 25"/>