cimarron

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Aside from toponyms and movie titles (cinemanyms?), is the word "cimarron"
>used in English? What are its definition (or definitions) and etymology?

'Cimarron' = 'bighorn' or 'Rocky Mountain sheep'.

 From the Random House Unabridged Dictionary:

cim•ar•ron ... n. bighorn. [1840–50; < AmerSp ( carnero) cimarrón wild
(sheep) ; Sp: wild, prob. equiv. to cim (a) peak, summit (< L cyma spring
shoots of a vegetable < Gk; see CYME) + -arrón adj. suffix; cf. MAROON(2)]

]The OED concurs.]

Also from the RHUD:

ma•roon  (2) ,,, n. ... 4. (often cap) any of a group of blacks, descended
from fugitive slaves of the 17th and 18th centuries, living in the West
Indies and Guiana, esp. in mountainous areas. ... [1660–70; < F mar(r)on,
appar. < AmerSp cimarrón wild (see CIMARRON) ; first used in reference to
domestic animals that escaped into the woods, later to fugitive slaves]

-- Doug Wilson