For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/avq2e. Yeah, it's an asterisk. It's used to denote that there is a note relevant to the word it is attached to. It might say something like You have won a million dollars* *you haven't really It's basically an easy way of footnoting without having to format.
Arak is a generic term used for a variety of spirits found in Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and some parts of India.
Arawak: Arawak, American Indians of the Greater Antilles and South America. The Taino, an Arawak subgroup, were the first native peoples encountered by Christopher Columbus on Hispaniola. The island Arawak were virtually wiped out by Old World diseases to which they had no immunity. A small number of mainland Arawak survive in South America.