Old Tupi language: Encyclopedia II - Old Tupi language - Morphology

Old Tupi language - Morphology

Most Tupi words are roots with one or two syllables, usually with double or triple meanings that are explored extensively for metaphoric purposes:

• kaa = bush / plant
• y = water / liquid / spring / lake, puddle / river, brook
• oby = green / blue
• a = round / head / seed

Interestingly, the most common words tend to be monosyllabic:

• sy = mother / source
• ã = shadow / ghost
• y
• u = food

Bisyllabic words tend to have a clearer meaning:

• tuba = father / origin
• aba = man (human being, Indian only)
• ara = day / light / bird
• ita = stone (or anything hard)

The combination of roots can produce any given concept:

• ara + sy (day + mother) = mother of day: the sun
• y + îara (water + lord/lady) = lady of the lake (a mithological figure)

Later, after the colonisation, the process was used to name things that the Indians originally did not have:

• ñande + îara (our + lord) = a title held by Christ in Catholic worship.
• Tupã + sy (God + mother) = the mother of God (Mary).

When used in compounds, roots tended to be changed:

• taba + ybaka + ybaté (village + sky + high) becomes Taubaté, which was originally the name of a village on the top of a mountain.
• ñe'enga + katu (language + good) becomes Ñe'engatu, "Good Language".

This phenomenon has influenced Brazilian Portuguese and is still observed in daily speech, must for slang purposes.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Morphology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki