atajaderos

( hatajo [atáxo] < verb atajar < prefix a- plus verb tajar < Latin taliare 'to cut,' meaning group that has been separated or set apart from a larger group).

   New Mexico: 1844. A string of packmules or pack horses. Bentley indicates "a typical atajo may have consisted of from fifteen to forty animals equipped with aparejos and cared for by drivers or atajaderos." Santamaría concurs. The DRAE and the VCN give "a group of livestock" as an alternate definition. These pack animals were a necessity on the long cattle drives and some borderland cowboys certainly knew the Spanish term.

    Alternate forms: atago, hatajo.