referred to the wooden structure and not the act of grilling

barbecue grill has existed in the Americas since pre-Colonial times. The Arawak people of South America roasted meat on a wooden structure called a barbacoa in Spanish. For centuries, the term barbacoa referred to the wooden structure and not the act of grilling, electric bbq maker was eventually modified to barbeque.It was also applied to the pit-style cooking techniques now frequently used in the SouthEastern United States.