gûakary

Old Tupi

Alternative forms

  • ûakary
Historical spellings 
Marcgrave (1648) gvacari

Noun

gûakary (unpossessable)

  1. A dark-colored armored catfish. Further details are uncertain. Possibilities include:
    • [c. 1631, Christovão de Lisboa, Historia dos animaes e arvores do Maranhão [History of Maranhão's animals and trees] (in Portuguese), Lisbon, page 175v:
      Vacari / he peixe armado de laminas he de cor pardo salpicado de preto a pedra parece hũ penhasco tofa he de 3 pal[mos] he de co[mer]
      “Gûakary” is a fish armed with blades. It's brown mottled with black. The stone looks like a cliff [?]. It's 3 spans long. It's edible.]
    • [1648, Georg Marcgrave, Willem Piso, Historia Naturalis Brasiliae [Brazilian Natural History], Rerum Naturalium Historiae, book IV, chapter XIII (in Latin), Amsterdam: Elzevir, page 166:
      Gvacari Braſilienſibus: piſcis ſubrotundo ſeu pyramidali corpore, pedalis vel paulo majoris longitudinis […]
      “Gûakary” from Brazil: fish with a subrotund or pyramidal body, about as long as a foot or slight longer […] ]
    1. suckermouth catfish (Hypostomus plecostomus)

Descendants

  • Nheengatu: wakarí
  • → Brazilian Portuguese: acari, cari, guacari, uacari

Further reading

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