itamembeka

Old Tupi

Alternative forms

Historical spellings 
VLB (1622) jtamembeca

Etymology

From itá (“rock”) +‎ membek (“soft”) +‎ -a.

Noun

itamembeka (?)

  1. sea sponge
    • [1587, Gabriel Soares de Sousa, chapter CXLIII, in Notícia do Brasil (in Portuguese), Salvador; republished as Francisco Adolpho de Varnhagen, editor, Tratado descriptivo do Brazil em 1587, 2nd edition, Rio de Janeiro: João Ignancio da Silva, 1879, page 273:
      Tambem deita o mar por estas praias muitas vezes esponjas, a que os indios chamam itamanbeca, as quaes se criam no fundo do mar, d’onde umas sahem delgadas e molles, e outra tezas e aperfeiçoadas.
      The sea also spits out on theses beaches many times sponges, that the Indians call “itamembeka”, which grow on the sea floor, from where they come out thin and soft, and others hard and ameliorated.]
  2. (Late Tupi) lead (chemical element)[1]
    Synonym: itaîyka

Descendants

  • Nheengatu: itá-membeka

References

  1. ^ anonymous author (1622) “Chumbo [Lead]”, in Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica (overall work in Portuguese), Piratininga; republished as Carlos Drummond, editor, Vocabulário na Língua Brasílica, 2nd edition, volume 1, São Paulo: USP, 1953, page 74: “Jtamembeca [Itamembeka]”

Further reading

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