Portuguese-based creole languages used to distinguish locally born black people of African descent from those who had been brought from Africa as slaves. In time, however, this generic sense was lost, and the word "crioulo" or its derivatives (like "Creole" and its equivalents in other languages) became the name of several specific Upper Guinean communities and their languages: the Guinean people and their Kriol language, Cape Verdean people and their Kriolu language, all of which still today have very vigorous use, suppressing the importance of official standard Portuguese. The oldest Portuguese-based creole are the so-called "crioulos" of Upper Guinea, born around the Portuguese
Panicker romanising Malayalam without diacritic marks, the name would be "Panikkar". However, Panikker, Panicker, Panickar, Paniker, Panikar, Panniker, and Pannikavannar, and other variants are found. Panicker Panicker (sometimes Panikkar) is an Indian title or last name. The "Dravidian Etymological Dictionary", entry number 3884, considers the word Panikkan as a word of Dravidian etymology, deriving from the Dravidian root word "Pani", meaning service, work etc. Panikkan could mean a person who commands as well as one who serves. The "DED" traces cognates of the word "Panikkan" in twelve Dravidian languages, besides Malayalam. The Portuguese traveller Duarte Barbosa said that "They are the