''Pahuichi'', sometimes spelled ''pagüichi'', is a term of uncertain origin used in the Spanish of Bolivia and northern Argentina to refer to a rustic domiciliary structure with a roof made of straw or dried palm fronds.

History of use

The principal Spanish dictionary of the

Real Academia Española The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

(RAE) lists ''pahuichi'' as a Bolivianism synoymous with the more widely used ''bohío "''hut, simple rustic dwelling," without giving any indication as to the former's etymology. The RAE's dictionary of Americanisms offers slightly more detail, defining ''pahuichi'' as a "small house or cottage thatched with leaves (or blades of grass)" and noting the word's use in northern Argentina as well as in Bolivia, but again offers no hypothesis as to the word's origins. Eastern Bolivian folklorist and philologist Germán Coimbra Sanz hypothesizes that the word represents a borrowing from an unidentified indigenous language of the Chaco and notes its occurrence in newspapers and journal articles published in western Bolivia from at least the 1930s onwards. He further observes that in the later twentieth century ''pahuichi'' took on some popularity in

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River (Bolivia), P ...

as a name for restaurants and other tourist attractions professing to represent traditional local cuisine and/or customs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pahuichi Thatched buildings