Taíno
The people of Hispaniola, Cuba and the larger Caribbean islands whom Columbus met in 1492. Their name was given later, from a word Spaniards heard them say, taíno, “good.”
The Second Voyage Reaches the Islands of the Caribs
Diego Álvarez Chanca, letter to the city council of Seville on Columbus’s second voyage (the stay on Guadeloupe, November 1493) · written on Hispaniola, probably early 1494 (events of November 1493)
Este dia primero que allí decendimos andaban por la playa junto con el agua muchos hombres é mugeres mirando la flota, é maravillándose de cosa tan nueva, é llegándose alguna barca á tierra á hablar con ellos, diciéndolos tayno tayno, que quiere decir bueno, esperaban en tanto que no salían del agua, junto con él moran, de manera que cuando ellos querían se podian salvar: en conclusión, que de los hombres ninguno se pudo tomar por fuerza ni por grado, salvo dos que se aseguraron é después los trajeron por fuerza allí.
On the first day we went ashore there, many men and women were walking along the beach by the water. They were looking at the fleet and marveling at something so new. When a boat came close to land to speak with them, saying tayno, tayno, which means “good,” they waited, as long as our men did not leave the water. They stayed close to their homes, so that they could escape whenever they wished. In the end, none of the men could be taken, by force or by persuasion, except two. These two trusted us, and afterward they were brought aboard by force.