Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cannibal , noun

[Compare French cannibale. Columbus, in a letter to the Spanish monarchs written in Oct., 1498, mentions that the people of Haiti lived in great fear of the Caribales (equivalent to English Caribbees.), the inhabitants of the smaller Antilles; which form of the name was afterward changed into New Latin Canibales, in order to express more forcibly their character by a word intelligible through a Latin root “propter rabiem caninam anthropophagorum gentis.” The Caribbees call themselves, in their own language. Calinago, Carinago, Calliponam, and, abbreviated, Calina, signifying a brave, from which Columbus formed his Caribales.]

Cannibal , adjective