Folk etymology has produced all sorts of fanciful hypotheses about the “true” origin of the term barbecue.

Bon Appetit once opined that the term derives from a phrase in the language of an extinct tribe in Guyana that translates roughly as “cheerfully spit-roasting captured enemies.” Anybody want to believe that?

Another wild suggestion, evidently common in North Carolina, is that the word comes from a “nineteenth century advertisement for a combination whiskey bar, beer hall, pool establishment (with plenty of pool cues) and purveyor of roasted pig, known as the BAR-BEER-CUE-PIG.” Students of folk etymology will recognize at once that this is far too cute to be the true origin of the term.

Still another common idea is that the word “barbecue” derives from the French phrase "de barbe au queue," loosely translated as “from beard to tail” (i.e., a whole roasted animal.) According to BBQ expert Smoky Hale, this is "flagrantly fatuous Franco-poop."

The most compelling account is that the word comes into English via the Spanish “barbacoa,” which in turn derives from a Tainu (West Indian) phrase meaning “sacred fire pit.” Soon enough, “barbacoa” in Spanish and the English “barbecue” came to denote a method of slow-cooking meat over the ashy-grey coals of a wood fire.

See also:

• What is BBQ?

• Styles of BBQ