pokaba

Old Tupi

Alternative forms

pocaba (obsolete)

Etymology

Coined by Spanish Jesuit missionary Joseph of Anchieta in the 16th century, from poka (“explosion”) +‎ -ab (instrumentalizer suffix) +‎ -a, literally “explosion instrument”.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pɔˈka.βa/, [pɔˈka.β̞a]
Rhymes: -aβa
Hyphenation: po‧ka‧ba

Noun

pokaba (possessable, Ib class pluriform, absolute mokaba)

firearm
- 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] (overall work in Middle French), La Rochelle: Antoine Chuppin, pages 124–125:
  T. — Esse non bat
  F. — Coromo
  T. — Neîn.
  F. — Mocap […] Mororocap […] Mocap-coui […] Mocap-couiourou […]
  [T. — Esenõî mbá
  F. — Koromõ
  T. — Ne'ĩ.
  F. — Mokaba […] Mororokaba […] Mokaku'i […] Mokaku'iuru […] ]
  T. — Name everything.
  F. — Just a moment.
  T. — Alright.
  F. — Firearms, bombards, gunpowder, gunpowder containers.
cannon; bombard
Synonyms: pororokaba, pokaboby, pokabusu
(by extension) shot (the result of launching a projectile)
Synonym: pororokaba

Derived terms

nouns

pokaba'ynha
pokaboby
pokaboka
pokabusu
pokaku'i
pokakûara
pokamembyra
pokamondykara

Descendants

Nheengatu: mukawa

References

anonymous author (1622) “Bombarda”, 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 57
anonymous author (1622) “Tiro de fogo”, 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 129
Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “mokaba”, 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 294, column 1