What does the word Putumayo mean?
Putumayo is a river that begins in the South American country of Colombia and flows along the border of Ecuador and Peru until it reaches the Amazon in Brazil. Putumayo’s founder, Dan Storper, was traveling through the region in 1974, and was so enamored with its beauty, he decided to name his new handicraft shop after it. The etymological origins of the word Putumayo in Quechua (indigenous Indian language) are as follows: Mayu (or Mayo) means “River” and Putu can mean either a gourd for drinking chicha, which is a homemade corn/maize liquor, or “nace” (birth) or “sale” (leaves). Therefore, the Quechuan origins of the Putumayo word could be understood to mean either a gourd river or “birth of the river.” Another literal meaning of the word Putumayo is a heron (type of bird). For more information on the history of Putumayo World Music, click here.
