Lemme help you get some clarity by providing historical facts.
Quick history lesson, to understand the Black Diaspora as a complete puzzle.
The Portuguese set sail to West-Africa with a plan to colonize them. They start off by doing business with them in trade of goods and converting the local Africans to Christianity, their own doctrine.
They did this because it put Black ppl directly UNDER them in belief, so they would be receptive to their colonization which would lead into the Trans-Atlantic Slavetrade.
Never forget, the Trans-Atlantic Slavetrade started in Africa first.
The contact that the Portuguese had with Africans BACK THEN cause Creolization that can be traced back to today.
Especially in Creole languages in the Caribbean, South-America and West-Africa.
In Portuguese,
Pequenino means “little one”
Pequeno means “little”
Because of contact their contact with West-Africa,
all the way in..
Nigeria, pikin means “child” (Nigerian Pidgin)
Cameroon, pikin means “child” (Cameroonian Pidgin)
Liberia, pikin means “child” (Liberian Pidgin)
Sierra Leon, pikin means “child” (Sierra Leonean Creole)
Because of the Trans-Atlantic Slavetrade,
Afro-descendants were shipped to and continued to Creolize
in the Americas. That’s why in..
Brazil, pequeno means “little” (Portuguese)
Jamaica, pickney means “child” (Jamaican Creole)
Suriname, pikin means “child” (Surinamese Creole)
@bnew this is why you’ve heard Jamaicans use “pickney” before, but as you can see, they are NOT the only ones in the Diaspora that use a Creolized word of “Pequeno/pequenino” to refer to a child.
White people abopted the word “pickaninny” over time as a slur for Black children in America, the Caribbean, the UK and Australia.
To summarize.
The words pequeno/pequenino originated in Portugal, Europe to mean “little/little one”.
They were brought to West-Africa by the Portuguese during their process of trade and converting Africans to Christianity to enable the Trans-Atlantic Slavetrade.
Because of contact, those Portuguese words Creolized in West-Africa to “pikin” to mean a word for “child”. (
@Givethanks this is why you thought it originated there)
From West-Africa, Afro-descendants brought that to the Americas were it further Creolized in Creole languages.
In the Americas, multiple Caribbean countries & Brazil preserved its meaning in Creole Languages and Portuguese today.
In West-Africa, it’s still in Creole languages today as well.
In America, the UK and the Caribbean, etc. “Pickaninny” became a slur of white people for children or African-descent.
These are UNDENIABLE historical facts,
that are retraceable NUMEROUS ways.
I hope this read was informative and insightful
PS: It’s also why I hate PretIndians and their followers.
They are an insult to the Black race, especially the descendants of slavery in the Americas that lived thru the Trans-Atlantic Slavetrade.
They literally deny these undeniable facts about the Trans-Atlantic Slavetrade, to spread conspiracy theories that erase our history and pain that came with it.