apir

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical, Chilean mining: a worker who carried broken ore from an underground mine to the surface in a leather pack on the back

   The apir climbed the notched timber ladder with a capacho of ore on his back.

Borrowed from Chilean Spanish apir or apiri, from Aymara apiri, 'one who carries,' an agent noun built on apa-, 'to carry.' The occupation was central to older Andean mines where ore was moved by human carriers. Darwin wrote the singular as apire; apir is the modern Chilean dictionary and legal form.

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