tapi'ira

• tapiira, tapiîra

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

tapi'ira (unpossessable)

1. tapir (Tapirus terrestris)

   Synonym: tapi'ireté

   • c. 1540, Jehan Lamy, Le langaige du Bresil (overall work in Middle French and Old Tupi), page 54, line 88:

     TAPPIRE

     [Tapi'ira]

   • 1595 [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, page 14v:

     […] xéreimbâba tapiîra

     [ […] xe reîmbaba tapi'ira.]

     My cow.

     (literally, “My livestock tapir.”)

2. (Late Tupi) cattle (Bos taurus)

   tapi'ikaba ― cow fat

   • 1687 [1621], Luís Figueira, Arte de grammatica da lingua brasilica (overall work in Old Tupi and Portuguese), Lisbon: Officina de Miguel Deslandes, page 126:

     Tapïjra oçó ogoapixara pyri […]

     [Tapi'ira osó ogûapixara pyri […] ]

     The ox went near his companions.

• 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.

• tapi'irusu

• Pe. Antônio Lemos Barbosa (1956) Curso de Tupi Antigo: Gramática, Exercícios, Textos‎ (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Livraria São José
• Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “tapi'ira”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil‎ (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, pages 462–463