marakaîá

Old Tupi

marakaîá (Leopardus tigrinus)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *marakaja.[1]

Cognate with Guaraní mbarakaja.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ma.ɾa.kaˈja/
Rhymes: -a
Hyphenation: ma‧ra‧ka‧îá

Noun

marakaîá (unpossessable)

any small spotted cat in the genus Leopardus
Synonym: marakaîaeté
(Late Tupi) domestic cat (Felis catus)
Synonym: marakaîamimbaba
Maracajá, indigenous people

Usage notes

With the advent of colonization, Tupians used the names of similar native animals to call the unknown species brought by the Europeans. Neologisms were then created by using eté (“true”) and eîmbaba／mimbaba (“domestic animal”) as a form to differentiate the old and new species, respectively.

Derived terms

marakaîaeté
Marakaîagûasu
marakaîamimbaba
marakaîamirĩ

Descendants

Nheengatu: marakayá
→ Portuguese: maracajá, ⇒ gato-maracajá

References

Antônio Augusto Souza Mello (2000 March 17) Estudo histórico da família linguística tupi-guarani: aspectos fonológicos e lexicais‎ (in Portuguese), Florianópolis: UFSC

Further reading

Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “marakaîá”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, page 261, column 2

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