Another alternative spelling of annatto, the natural orange-red coloring substance derived from tropical achiote tree seeds.
Variant spelling of anotta, from Spanish 'achiote' and ultimately from Taíno 'iciote.' Spelling variations were common in early European trade documentation of exotic goods.
The multiple spellings of this word (anotta, anotto, annatto) show how natural products traveled across language barriers in the colonial period—there was no standard way to spell words from Indigenous languages!
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