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 (absolute mokaba) (possessable)

1. 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 and Old Tupi), 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.

2. cannon; bombard

   Synonyms: pororokaba, pokaboby, pokabusu

3. (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

• “Bombarda”, in Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica (in Portuguese), Piratininga, 1622; republished as Carlos Drummond, editor, Vocabulário na Língua Brasílica, 2nd edition, volume 1, São Paulo: USP, 1953, page 57
• “Tiro de fogo”, in Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica (in Portuguese), Piratininga, 1622; 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 (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, page 294, column 1