kygûaba

Old Tupi

Alternative forms

  • kyûaba
Historical spellings 
Léry (1578) kuap
d'Abbeville (1614) keuäр
VLB (1622) quiggoaba

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *kɨwaβ. According to Navarro, from kyba (louse) +‎ 'u (to eat) +‎ -ab (instrumentalizer) +‎ -a (nominalizer), literally louse-eating tool.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [kɨˈwa.βa]
  • Rhymes: -aβa
  • Hyphenation: ky‧gûa‧ba

Noun

kygûaba (possessable)

  1. comb (toothed implement for grooming the hair)
    • [1578, Jean de Léry, chapter XX, in Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Bresil, autrement dite Amerique [History of a voyage to the land of Brazil, also called America] (in Middle French), La Rochelle: Antoine Chuppin, page 346:
      [] Kuap des peignes []
      [] Kyûab[a]” — some combs [] ]
    • [1614, Claude d'Abbeville, chapter XLVII, in Hiſtoire de la Miſsion des Peres Capucins en L'Iſle de Maragnan et terres circonuoiſines [History of the Mission of the Capuchin Fathers in the Island of Maranhão and surrounding lands] (in French), Paris: Imprimerie de François Huby, page 283v:
      [] leurs peignes qu'ils appellent Keuäр []
      [] their combs that they call “kyûab[a] [] ]

Descendants

  • Nheengatu: kiwawa

References

  • anonymous author (1622), “Pente, ou pentẽ [Comb]”, in Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica (overall work in Portuguese), Piratininga; republished as Carlos Drummond, editor, Vocabulário na Língua Brasílica, 2nd edition, volume 2, São Paulo: USP, 1953, page 72:Quiggoaba [Kygûaba]
  1. ^ Navarro, Eduardo de Almeida (2013), “kygûaba”, 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, page 249, column 2