What is "tinerfe"

Tinerfe "the Great", legendary hero who was a guanche mencey (king aboriginal) of the island of Tenerife ( Canary Islands, Spain).

He was the son of mencey Sunta, who ruled the island in the days before the conquest of the Canary Islands by Castilla. Tinerfe the Great lived in Adeje (like all his predecessors), approximately hundred years before the conquest of 1494.

The children of Tinerfe were:

• Acaimo or Acaymo (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Tacoronte).
• Adjona: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Abona).
• Añaterve: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Güímar).
• Bencomo: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Taoro).
• Beneharo: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Anaga).
• Pelicar: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Adeje).
• Pelinor: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Icode).
• Romen: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Daute).
• Tegueste: (mencey (king) of Menceyato de Tegueste).

The eighteenth-century historians Juan Núñez de la Peña and Tomás Arias Marín de Cubas, among others, state that the name of the island of Tenerife could come from Tinerfe.