Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Partly a borrowing from Spanish.
Etymons:Latinzemen, zemes, Spanishcemí.
Originally (i) (in α forms) <post-classical Latinzemes (plural; accusative singular zemen) (1533 in the passages translated in quots. 15551 and 15552, respectively);in β forms (ii) <Spanishcemí, zemí, zemi (mid…
Originally (i) (in α forms) <post-classical Latinzemes (plural; accusative singular zemen) (1533 in the passages translated in quots. 15551 and 15552, respectively);in β forms (ii) <Spanishcemí, zemí, zemi (mid 16th cent., now historical);both <Tainocemi (with stress on the second syllable).
Notes
The form zemes, used in the translation of Peter Martyr's account as both singular and plural (compare quots. 15551 and 15552), was later reinterpreted as an English plural, leading to the singular form zeme (first attested in quot. 1650).
Meaning & use
Chiefly historical.
1555–
A god or ancestral spirit venerated by the Taino, an Indigenous people formerly inhabiting the Caribbean (cf. Tainon. & adj.); a representation of such a god or spirit, esp. one taking the form of a carved triangular object of stone or shell.
1555
In thenterance of this caue they haue twoo grauen Zemes[Latin zemes].
R. Eden, translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria, Decades of Newe Worldei.ix. f. 45
1555
He persuadeth hym that his Zemes [L.zemen] is angry, eyther bycause he hath not buylded hym a chapell, or not honored hym religiously.
R. Eden, translation of Peter Martyr of Angleria, Decades of Newe Worldei.ix. f. 46
1650
Such are the Zemes among the Indians so often spoken of by Peter Martyr..; Every King among them hath such a..Zeme.
T. Thorowgood, Iewes in Amer. 15
1664
In the Indies, the Catholick Spaniards took away the Zemes or Images of their Idols.
J. Owen, Vindication of Animadversions on Fiat Lux xxi. 487
1760
The Zemes communicated themselves more particularly to the Butios, for thus they called their priests.
T. Jefferys, Natural & Civil History of French Dominions in North & South Amer.vol. II. 14
1792
His once-lov'd isle, For crimes yet unaton'd, dread Zemi thus To desolation and to death consigns.
B. Edwards, Poems 19
1851
Through these Zemi the kings governed the people.
E. Jones, Notes to Peoplevol. I. 56/1
1891
Certain of these Zemes had prophetic powers, and by a skillful arrangement a concealed person was able to utter responses through the medium of the Zeme.
American Anthropologistvol. 4 172
1902
They recognized and worshipped many supernatural beings, which they represented by idols to which they have the name zemis.
Science 18 July 101/2
1962
Sickness or misfortune were the work of malignant or displeased zemes.
M. Craton, Hist. Bahamas ii. 27
2005
The role of zemís in Taíno culture has similarities and differences to the role of sacred images in their ancestral South American homeland.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.
Vowels
iːfleece
ihappy
ɪkit
ɛdress
atrap, bath
ɑːstart, palm, bath
ɒlot
ɔːthought, force
ʌstrut
ʊfoot
uːgoose
əletter
əːnurse
ɪənear
ɛːsquare
ʊəcure
eɪface
ʌɪpride
aʊmouth
əʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ãgratin
ɒ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.
Vowels
ifleece, happy
ɪkit
ɛdress
ætrap, bath
ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
ɑrstart
ɔcloth, thought
ɔrnorth, force
ʊfoot
ugoose
əstrut, comma
ərnurse, letter
ɪ(ə)rnear
ɛ(ə)rsquare
ʊ(ə)rcure
eɪface
aɪpride
aʊmouth
oʊgoat
ɔɪvoice
ɑ̃gratin
æ̃salon
ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.
Consonants
b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values
gguy
jjay
yyore
chchore
khloch
shshore
ththaw
dhthee
zhbeige
Vowels
atrap
ahpalm
airsquare
arstart
arrcarry (British only)
awthought
ayface
a(ng)gratin
edress
eefleece
eerdeer
errmerry
ikit
ighpride
irrmirror
olot (British only)
ohgoat
oogoose
oorcure
orforce
orrsorry (British only)
owmouth
oyvoice
o(ng)salon
ustrut
uhletter
urnurse
urrhurry
uufoot
Forms
Inflections
Plural: zemis, zemies ( British English /ˈziːmiz/ (ZEE-meez) , /səˈmiːz/ (suh-MEEZ) , U.S. English /ˈzimiz/ (ZEE-meez) , /səˈmiz/ (suh-MEEZ) , /zəˈmiz/ (zuh-MEEZ) )
Variant forms
α.
1500s
zemes, zemes (plural)
1600s–
zeme
β.
1700s–
cemi, zemi
2000s–
zemí
Frequency
zemi typically occurs about 0.03 times per million words in modern written English.
zemi is in frequency band 3, which contains words occurring between 0.01 and 0.1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.
Frequency of zemi, n., 1760–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.