Trinidad, from Spanish La Isla de la Trinidad ("Island of the Holy Trinity"). The name was bestowed by Christopher Columbus to fulfill a vow he had made before setting out on his third voyage.Hart, Marie. The New Trinidad and Tobago, p. 13. Collins (London and Glasgow), 1972. Tobago, of uncertain etymology, but probably from the tobacco grown and smoked by the natives. Iere, the former Arawak name for Trinidad according to historian E.L. Joseph, who derived it from ierèttê or yerettê, meaning "hummingbird". Others have claimed the Arawak word for hummingbird was tukusi or tucuchi and that iere or kairi simply means "island".
Trinidad, from Spanish La Isla de la Trinidad ("Island of the Holy Trinity"). The name was bestowed by Christopher Columbus to fulfill a vow he had made before setting out on his third voyage.Hart, Marie. The New Trinidad and Tobago, p. 13. Collins (London and Glasgow), 1972. Tobago, of uncertain etymology, but probably from the tobacco grown and smoked by the natives. Iere, the former Arawak name for Trinidad according to historian E.L. Joseph, who derived it from ierèttê or yerettê, meaning "hummingbird". Others have claimed the Arawak word for hummingbird was tukusi or tucuchi and that iere or kairi simply means "island".