From Taino 'mahiz' — one of the first New World words, recorded by Columbus in 1492 from a people soon nearly annihilated.
A cereal plant native to the Americas, bearing large ears of starchy grain; also called corn in North America.
From Spanish 'maíz,' from Taino 'mahiz' or 'mahís,' the name for the grain in the Arawakan language of the Caribbean peoples encountered by Columbus. The word was one of the first Taino loans into Spanish, recorded by Columbus himself in his journal in 1492. The Taino cultivated maize extensively, having received it from Mesoamerican cultures
Columbus himself wrote down the word 'mahiz' in his journal in November 1492 — making it one of the very first words recorded from any indigenous American language by a European. The Taino people who gave us this word were almost entirely wiped out within decades of contact, but their language survives in 'maize,' 'barbecue,' 'hammock,' 'canoe,' 'hurricane,' and 'tobacco.'