Old Tupi language: Encyclopedia II - Old Tupi language - Presence of Tupi in Brazil

Old Tupi language - Presence of Tupi in Brazil

As the basis for the Lingua Geral, spoken throughout the country by both white and Indian settlers until the early XVIII century and still heard in isolated pockets until the early XX century, Tupi left a strong mark on the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil, being by far its most distinctive source of modification.

Tupi has given Brazilian Portuguese:

• A few thousands of words (some of them hybrid or bastardised) for animals, plants, fruit and cultural entities.
• The English-like pronunciation of R in Southern states.
• The intensification of the difference between rounded and unrounded E and O.
• The intensification of nasalisation
• The slang mechanism of producing compounds by assimilation (with both terms changing phonetically).

Tupi is still quite "felt" in Brazil today as about 40% of the Brazilian municipalities have Tupi names:

• Iguaçu ("y ûasú") : great river
• Itaquaquecetuba ("itákûakesétyba", from "itá + takûara + kesé + tyba"): the rock where the bamboo trees bend with the wind
• Pindorama (from "pindó", palm tree): (sth) that will grow like a palm tree someday (this was the name that the tupinikins gave to the place where they lived.
• Paranaíba ("paranãyba", from "paranã + y + ubá"): where the sea can be sailed by river boats
• Umuarama ("ũbuarama", from "ũbu + ara + rama"): where the cacti will grow someday
• Ipanema ("y panema"): unhealthy water (somehow prophetic).
• Itanhangá ("itá + añãgá") : the rock where the devil goes.
• Pacaembu ("paka + embu") : valley of the pacas.
• Piraí ("pirá + í") : small fishes
• Jaguariúna ("îagûara + í + una") : small black jaguar
• Paraná-mirim ("paranã + mirĩ") : little ocean

Among the many Tupi loanwords in Portuguese, the following are notheworthy for their widespread use:

• abacaxi (pineapple)
• urubu (the Brazilian vulture)
• urutu (a kind of rattlesnake)
• pororoca (a tidal phenomenon in the Amazon firth)
• piranha (a carnivorous fish, also slang for immoral women)
• piroca (orinally meant "bald", now a slang for the penis)
• pipoca (popcorn)
• perereca (a type of small frog, also slang for the vulva)
• peteca (a type of badminton game played with bare hands)
• minhoca (earth worm)
• siri (prawn)

It is interesting however, that the two most distinctive Brazilian animals, the jaguar and the tapir, despite being named in English with Tupi loanwoards, are known in Portuguese by non-Tupi names: "onça" (on-sa) and "anta".

A significant number of Brazilians have Tupi names as well:

• Araci (female) : "ara sy", the sun
• Ubirajara (male) : "ybyrá îara", lord of the trees
• Jaci (both) : "îá sy", the moon (mother of the night)
• Ubiratan (male) : "ybyrá atã", war pipe
• Janaína (female) : "îandá una", a beautiful black bird
• Iara (female) : "y îara", lady of the lake

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