Juracán is the phonetic name given by the Spanish settlers to the god of chaos and disorder that the Taino

Taíno people

The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...

 Indians in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 (and also the Carib and Arawak Indians elsewhere in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

) believed controlled the weather, particularly hurricanes. From this we derive the Spanish word huracán and eventually the English word hurricane. As the pronunciation varied across various indigenous groups, there were many alternative names along the way. The OED mentions furacan, furican, haurachan, herycano, hurachano, hurricano, and so on. The term makes an early appearance in William Shakespeare's

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 King Lear

King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...

 (Act 3, Scene 2), and in Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida

Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was also described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus...

 (Act 5, Scene 2), in which Shakespeare gives the following definition: "the dreadful spout Which shipmen do the hurricano call, Constringed (i.e., compressed) in mass by the almighty sun".

Being the easternmost of the Greater Antilles

Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...

, Puerto Rico is often in the path of many of the North Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes which tend to come ashore on the east coast of the island. The Taíno believed that Juracán lived at the top of a rainforest

Rainforest

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 peak called El Yunque

El Yunque, Puerto Rico

The mountain lies completely within the boundaries of the El Yunque National Forest, part of the U.S. Forest Service, which is the only rainforest that belongs to the U.S. Forest Service. The peak itself is one of the highest in Puerto Rico, standing at 1,080 meters above sea level...

 (literally, the anvil but truly derived from the name of the Taíno god of order and creation, Yukiyu

Yukiyu

Yúcahu, was the masculine spirit of fertility in Taíno mythology,. He was one of the supreme deities or zemís of the Pre-Columbian Taíno peoples along with his mother Atabey who was his feminine counterpart...

) from where he stirred the winds and caused the waves to bristle.