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From owner-haiti@lists.webster.edu Mon Jul 28 13:00:21 2003
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 11:08:58 -0500 (CDT)
From: Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>
To: Haiti mailing list <haiti@lists.webster.edu>
Subject: 16208: Wilcken: History of the word caco (fwd)
Sender: owner-haiti@lists.webster.edu

From: Lois E Wilcken <makandal-ny@juno.com>

History of the word caco

From the Haiti list, 28 July 2003

With the anniversary of the 1915 U.S. invasion of Haiti on my mind, I have this question for the historians: When does the word caco first appear, and what are its possible derivations? I know it was used in reference to insurgents against Salnave in the 1860s, but I have the impression that it wasn’t a new word then. Is that correct?

Lois

La Troupe Makandal—New York City’s Center for Haitian Drum and Dance
621 Rutland Road, Brooklyn NY 11203
718-953-6638 / makandal-ny@juno.com
www.makandal.org

From owner-haiti@lists.webster.edu Tue Jul 29 10:00:20 2003
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 08:16:59 -0500 (CDT)
From: Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>
To: Haiti mailing list <haiti@lists.webster.edu>
Subject: 16215: Manigat on history of the word caco
Sender: owner-haiti@lists.webster.edu

From: Maxmanigat@aol.com

According to historian Horace Paulus Sannon: Histoire de Toussaint Louverture, Tome III 2nd edition 2003, p. 206, Note 15, the word caco is a corruption of TACO ... nickname given to the insurgents [during the war if independence] because they used to hide, like the bird of the same name, under the leaves to come unexpectedly upon and attack the enemy (my translation).