THEO VAN GOGH ETHYMOLOGISCHES : INDIANER = IN-DIOS ! (ENGLISH FOLLOWS GERMAN)

Die Spanier benannten die von ihnen vorgefundenen Urvölker “la gente in dios”, Völker in Gott, meinend: Völker in göttlicher Ursprünglichkeit. Daraus entwickelte sich “Indios” und germanisiert: “Indianer”. Dieses Wort hat also noch nicht einmal ethymologisch etwas mit “Inder” zu tun, auch, da man sehr wohl wusste, nicht in Indien gelandet zu sein.

“In the late 20th century, some American public figures suggested that the origin of the term was not from a confusion with India, but from the Spanish expression En Dios, meaning “in God”, or a similar one in Italian. Proponents of this idea include comedian George Carlin.[8]

Muscogee writer Bear Heart (Nokus Feke Ematha Tustanaki) wrote in The Wind Is My Mother (1998): “When Columbus found the natives here, they were gentle people who accepted him, so Columbus wrote in his journal, ‘These are people of God’ (una gente en Dios). Later the ‘s’ was dropped and Indio became Indian.”[9] But, David Wilton notes in Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends that this phrase does not appear in any of Columbus’ writing.”

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