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

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

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". 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 Naduhup languages, also known as Makú (Macú) or ''Vaupés–Japurá'', form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name '' Makú'' is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan word meaning "without speech". ''Na ...

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

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 The Cuyabeno River is located in Sucumbios, Ecuador. The river starts in the high part of the Cuyabeno Reserve and ends in the Aguarico River. In the Siona - Secoya language, Cuyabeno means "Kindness River"".Reserva de Producción Faunística Cuy ...

near the headwaters of the

Aguarico River The Aguarico River ( es, Río Aguarico, 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 is the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border. It empties into the Napo Riv ...

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 The Piaroa people, known among themselves as the ''Huottüja'' or ''De'aruhua'', are a pre-Columbian South American indigenous ethnic group of the middle Orinoco Basin in present-day Colombia and Venezuela, living in an area larger than Belgium, ...

a.k.a. Maco-Ventuari. Maco-Ventuari was an extinct 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 was 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 ( pui, Wãnsöhöt) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela. It is generally considered to be an unclassified language. Varieties Varieties listed by Mason (1950): *Puinave (Epined) **Western ...

along the Negro and

Japurá River The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a river about long 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. Th ...

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 ( aca, Achawa), is an Arawakan language spoken in the Meta Department of Colombia, similar to Piapoco. It is estimated that 250 individuals speak the language, many of whom also speak Piapoco or Spanish Spanish might refer to ...

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 extinct. They are at best only distantly related. Kaufman ( ...

*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 people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas). Subdivision Ferr ...

a.k.a. Macú-Yanomami *the Carabayo language a.k.a. Macú-Carabayo *the

Marueta people In a tribe called Marueta, located in Venezuela, South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the no ...

of Venezuela

References

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

See also

References