29256: Christophe (reply and ask) Re: 29236: lyall (reply) indigenes names (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Marc A. Christophe <mactof@erols.com>

Anyone has any idea on Max Beauvoir's contention that the word Haiti is of
African origin and signifies:  "This land is mine"?  It appears then that
Haiti's early historians (Madiou?) ignorant as they were of the African
origin of the word Haiti connected it instead to an Indian word with which
it shares some phonetical similarities.  Wouldn't  it make more sense that
Africans in Haiti would use an African word to name the land for which they
fought so hard, rather than memorializing a group of people who had already
disappeared by the time of Haiti's independence?
Max, wherever you are, can you respond to this post?