Bencomo

According to José de Viera y Clavijo, Bencomo was the son of Imobach, grandson of Betzenuhya, and great-grandson of Tinerfe the Great.{{cite book |author=José de Viera y Clavijo |title=Notices of the General History of the Canary Islands |editor=Elías Serra Rafols |edition=Definitive |year=1950–1952 |orig-year=1772 |publisher=Goya Ediciones |location=Santa Cruz de Tenerife |language=Spanish |url=http://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MDC/id/162635/rec/49 |access-date=2025-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627213001/https://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/compoundobject/collection/MDC/id/162635/rec/49 |archive-date=2021-06-27 |url-status=dead}} He had a brother, Tinguaro, who fought alongside him during the Castilian conquest.

He married Caseloria, and together they had three children: Bentor, Dácil (later baptized as Mencía Bencomo), and María Bencomo. His grandchildren included Ruymán, Rosalva, and Collarampa (children of Bentor); Dácil or Dácila (who married the conquistador Fernán García Izquierdo and was baptized as Catalina Izquierdo); and Juan, María, and Elvira Bencomo (children of Dácil Bencomo), as well as Catalina González (daughter of María Bencomo).{{cite book |author=Juan Bethencourt Alfonso |title=History of the Guanche People: Ethnography and Socio-Political Organization |edition=2nd |year=1992 |publisher=Francisco Lemus Editor |location=San Cristóbal de La Laguna |isbn=84-879-7300-0 |language=Spanish}}

According to the historian Tomás Arias Marín de Cubas, Bencomo was "almost or over seventy years old" at the time of his death, which would place his birth around the year 1423.{{cite book |author=Tomás Arias Marín de Cubas |title=History of the Seven Islands of Canaria |editor=Ángel de Juan Casañas |editor2=María Régulo Rodríguez |year=1986 |orig-year=1687 |publisher=Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Gran Canaria |location=Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |isbn=84-398-7275-5 |language=Spanish |url=http://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/ref/collection/MDC/id/41270 |access-date=2025-05-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205172023/http://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/ref/collection/MDC/id/41270 |archive-date=2022-12-05 |url-status=dead}}

According to Antonio de Viana, Acaimo and Beneharo — the menceyes of Tacoronte and Anaga — had been at war with Bencomo, the mencey of Taoro, for over thirty years. The conflict stemmed from Bencomo's marriage to Hañagua, whom the menceyes of Tacoronte and Anaga had also sought to marry. They made peace shortly before the arrival of the Castilian conquest force led by Alonso Fernández de Lugo in 1494.{{cite book |author=Antonio de Viana |title=Conquest of Tenerife |editor=Alejandro Cioranescu |year=1968–1971 |orig-year=1604 |publisher=Aula de Cultura of the Island Council of Tenerife |location=Santa Cruz de Tenerife |language=Spanish |url=http://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/singleitem/collection/MDC/id/44257/rec/2 |access-date=2016-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217132216/https://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/singleitem/collection/MDC/id/44257/rec/2 |archive-date=2023-02-17 |url-status=dead}}

In addition to the forms Bencomo, Benchomo, and Benytomo, this personal name also appears in sources as Bentomo, Venitomo,{{cite book |title=Monumenta Linguae Canariae. The Monuments of the Canarian Language: A Study on the Prehistory and Early History of White Africa |author=Dominik Josef Wölfel |year=1965 |location=Graz |publisher=Akademische Druck |language=German}} Benchóm, Bencom, and Benitomo.{{cite book |title=Guanche Anthroponyms |author=Juan Álvarez Delgado |year=1979 |publisher=Mancomunidad de Cabildos, Cultural Plan and Canarian Museum |pages=37–38 |isbn=978-84-500-3178-2 |language=Spanish}}

As for its possible meaning, the philologist Ignacio Reyes proposes the interpretation "ambitious", derived from an early Insular Tamazight form we-n-ytum,{{cite book |title=Ínsuloamaziq Dictionary |author=Ignacio Reyes García |location=Santa Cruz de Tenerife |publisher=Ínsuloamaziq Cultural Fund |year=2011 |isbn=978-84-615-0960-7 |language=Spanish}} suggesting that Benytomo is the original form of the Guanche leader's name. In contrast, philologist Juan Álvarez Delgado identifies Benchomo as the original form, deriving it from wen-chum (from the verb echchem, meaning "to be better" or "to be worth more"{{cite journal |author=Juan Álvarez Delgado |title=The Division of the Island of Tenerife into Nine Kingdoms |journal=Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos |issue=31 |year=1985 |pages=114–116 |location=Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |publisher=Casa de Colón Board |issn=0570-4065 |language=Spanish |url=https://revistas.grancanaria.com/index.php/aea/article/view/483/483 |access-date=2025-05-31}}), and proposes the meaning "he is the best" or "he is the greatest".

The origin of the version Bencomo is thought to lie in either a misreading of the original Benchomo as a Latinized form (where ch becomes k/c, as commonly applied in Latin-Greek terms in medieval Spanish), or in typographical errors found in the texts of Antonio de Viana, which helped popularize this altered version of the name.

Bencomo is one of the Guanche-origin surnames that still persist among the population of the Canary Islands. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), in 2015 there were 1,377 people with this surname, primarily in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, alongside others such as Tacoronte, Baute, and Guanche.{{cite journal |author=Leopoldo de la Rosa Olivera |title=The Family of King Bentor |journal=Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos |issue=23 |year=1977 |issn=0570-4065 |url=http://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/singleitem/collection/aea/id/1484/rec/1 |language=Spanish |access-date=}}

Although most genealogists trace the name back to the mencey of Taoro himself, researcher Leopoldo de la Rosa notes that the surname first appeared in the mid-18th century. It was adopted by some descendants of the island’s former menceyes following the popularization of Bencomo’s figure in the works of Fray Alonso de Espinosa and Antonio de Viana.{{cite journal |author=Leopoldo de la Rosa Olivera |title=King Don Diego of Adexe and His Family |journal=Anuario de Estudios Atlánticos |issue=25 |year=1979 |pages=175–217 |location=Las Palmas de Gran Canaria |publisher=Casa de Colón Board |issn=0570-4065 |language=Spanish |url=http://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/singleitem/collection/aea/id/1704/rec/1 |access-date=2016-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729015425/https://mdc.ulpgc.es/cdm/singleitem/collection/aea/id/1704/rec/1 |archive-date=2020-07-29 |url-status=dead}}

Perhaps the most famous historical figure from the Canary Islands to bear this surname was Cristóbal Bencomo y Rodríguez, a priest from La Laguna, confessor to King Ferdinand VII, and titular Archbishop of Heraclea.{{cite web |title=The 18 Canarian Bishops |url=http://www.juliosanchezrodriguez.com/convertidos/06-11-05_ObisposnacidosenCanarias.pdf |website=JulioSanchezRodriguez.com |language=Spanish |access-date=2025-05-31}}

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Category:1495 deaths

Category:15th-century Berber people

Category:People from Tenerife

Category:Military personnel killed in action

Category:Guanche people

Category:1430s births

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