- Ma·chete - a large heavy knife used for cutting sugarcane and underbrush and as a weapon
- Pronunciation:
- \mə-ˈshe-tē, -ˈche-; -ˈshet\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- Spanish
- Date:
- circa 1575
While watching a show on National Geographic, on Taboo, I saw how this was being used by Filipinos in one of their rituals. Then it dawned on me how the word may have been derived.
Maach - Fish (Check out Maachu Picchu)
Chediy or Chediya - That cuts. The root is "Chid", which means "to pierce" or "to cut", and one can add "iya" to make it a Potential Participle - that would do the verb. It makes the verb an Adjective or Noun.
There are two "ch-ch" sounds and one of the rule says you can compress that into one sound. So "Maach-Ched-iya" becomes "Machediya". Now "iya" can also be written as "ey" or "ee", or "e".
"y" is the semi vowel and connected to the vowel "i". "t" and "d" are interchangeable and often confused (those who say "t" and are heard as "d", and vice versa, would know this), and for there is one rule where the hard "t" is replaced by soft "d" and vice versa.
The word showing the origins to Spanish shows that the Spanish picked up the word from Native Americans, and the word was already introduced to them by the Eastern People. It is a well known fact that the people of Eastern Islands, and Perus had a history of cultural contacts.
So the "Mach-Chedey" was used to skin the fish, which is what the eastern people are found off, as their staple diet is "Mach" and "Bhaat" (rice).
