Etymology
The term "maqui" comes from the French term "maquis" ("a small mountain, covered with weeds"), which comes in turn from the Corsican term "macchia", meaning "dense, deep forest" or "thick vegetation". It was the expression used for privateers when, fleeing from the authorities, they would seek refuge in the mountains of Corsica.
In France, the term was first used to refer to a group of guerrillas of the French resistance against the German occupation of France during World War II. The resistance fighters in these encampments were referred to as "maquisards".
The term became synonymous with the anti-Francisco Franco guerrillas in Spain. Many of the Spanish maquis also participated in the French resistance movement.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Maquis
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)