Etymology Map
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Anansi

2 stages from Akan (Twi) to English.

Today it means the cunning spider trickster of West African and Caribbean folktales, and by extension a name for such a trickster figure

Where does the word "anansi" come from? It comes from Akan (Twi) ananse, adopted directly into English (1700s-1800s).

1
Stage 1 of 2
ananse
Akan (Twi) · 1700s
"spider"
the Twi word simply means "spider", first recorded around 1700-1710 as the name of the trickster figure
2
Stage 2 of 2
Anansi
English · 1700s-1800s
"a cunning spider trickster figure of folktales"
carried to the Caribbean with enslaved Akan people and kept as the name of the spider trickster in Jamaican and wider English folklore
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