tapi'ira

Old Tupi

tapi'ira (sense 1)

tapi'ira (sense 2)

Alternative forms

Historical spellings
Lamy (1540)	TAPPIRE
Anchieta (1555)	tapiîra
VLB (1624)	tapijra

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *tapiʔir.

Cognate with Guajajára tapi'ir and Mbyá Guaraní tapi'i.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ta.piˈʔi.ɾa]
• Rhymes: -iɾa
• Hyphenation: ta‧pi‧'i‧ra

Noun

tapi'ira (unpossessable)

1. tapir (Tapirus terrestris)^[1][2]

   Synonyms: tapi'ireté, tapi'irusu

   • 1555, Joseph of Anchieta, chapter V, in Arte de grammatica da lingoa mais vſada na coſta do Braſil (overall work in Portuguese), Coimbra: Antonio de Mariz, published 1595, page 14v:

     […] xéreimbâba tapiîra

     [ […] xe reîmbaba tapi'ira.]

     My cow.

     (literally, “My livestock tapir.”)

2. (Late Tupi) cattle (Bos taurus)

   Synonym: tapi'irusu

   tapi'ikaba ― cow fat

   • c. 1628, Luís Figueira, “Da Prepoſição 5. parte da oração”, in Arte da lingua Braſilica [Art of the Brasílica Language]‎ (overall work in Portuguese), Lisbon: Manuel da Silva, page 68:

     Tapijra oço ogoapixara pyri […]

     [Tapi'ira osó ogûapixara pyri […] ]

     The ox went near its companions.

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 eŷmbaba／mimbaba (“domestic animal”) as a form to differentiate the old and new species, respectively.

Related terms

• tapi'ikaba
• tapi'ira'yrusu
• tapi'irapekũ
• tapi'irapé
• tapi'iraraîygûera
• tapi'irarepanakũ
• tapi'irarõana
• tapi'irerekoara
• tapi'iresá
• tapi'ireté
• tapi'irusu

 

Descendants

Descendants of tapi'ira

• Nheengatu: tapiira
• → Portuguese: Tapira, tapira, tapiira
• →? French: tapir
  • → English: tapir
  • → German: Tapir
  • → Ottoman Turkish: طاپر
    • Turkish: tapir
  • → Polish: tapir
    • → Kashubian: tapir
  • →? Portuguese: tapir
  • →? Spanish: tapir
    • → Catalan: tapir
    • → Dutch: tapir
    • → Tagalog: tapir
  • → Swedish: tapir

References

1. Jehan Lamy (c. 1540) Le langaige du breſiL [The language of Brazil]‎ (overall work in Middle French and Old Tupi), page 54, line 88: “TAPPIRE [Tapi'ira]”
2. André Thevet (1557–1558) chapter 49, in Les singularitez de la France Antarctique [The singularities of France Antarctique] (overall work in Middle French), Paris: Maurice de La Porte, page 96: “Tapihire [Tapi'ira]”

• Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “tapi'ira”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil [Dictionary of Old Tupi: The Classical Indigenous Language of Brazil] (overall work in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, pages 462–463
• Nelson Papavero, Dante Martins Teixeira (2014) Zoonímia tupi nos escritos quinhentistas europeus [Tupian zoonymy in 16th century European writings] (Arquivos NEHiLP; 3) (in Portuguese), São Paulo: FFLCH-USP, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 252