BUCCANEER

One of the SeaTalk contributors, John Hutchinson, suggested that we provide more information about this term. It comes from the French word "boucan" meaning smoked meat. Back in the 17th Century, freebooters used to stop at islands in the Caribbean and poach cattle, then preserve the meat by smoking it for their own use and for resale at the market. The French word for smoke is "boucane", and the smoked meat was called "boucan". The scoundrels who engaged in this trade in stolen meat were known as "boucaniers". When the term was Anglicised, it became "buccaneers". They were the forerunners of the pirates of the Caribbean.