LÃngua Geral
The Tupi language ( accent on the i, also Tupi ) is a language which before the Conquest and during the Portuguese colonial era was spoken over a wide area along the entire Atlantic coast of Brazil. The tupisprachigen ethnic groups are known as Tupi. For variants of the Tupi two working languages , which served as a lingua franca in Brazil developed, namely in the area along the coast or in the Amazon.
When the Portuguese began with the conquest of Brazil, they found that the natives along the huge coastline everywhere spoke closely related to each other dialects, so that they (lingua geral ) spoke of the " general language". The Jesuits wrote to the language and used them for proselytizing. Here there are two Tupi - variants developed as a lingua franca.
( Geral austral Língua or Língua geral paulista ) basis for the Southern General was the Tupi language of the São Paulo region (with SIL International Tupi [ tpw ], and old - Tupi Tupi or antiguo ). This language was to the 18th century, the main language of the Portuguese colony of Brazil, also for the white immigrants. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1759 it lost its importance, was ousted in the wake of increased immigration from Portuguese Portuguese and died in the 19th century.
The Common Language of Amazonia ( Língua geral Amazônica ), which on the Tupi dialect of Tupinambás (with SIL Tupinambás [ tpn ], spoken between Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas) based and as a means of communication between linguistically completely different indigenous ethnic groups as well as with the whites served, was pushed back from the Portuguese. However, there are still about 8,000 speakers in the area of the Río Negro, where it is known under the name Nheengatu ( " good language ").
Among the Tupi languages ( or - depending on the perspective - Tupi dialects, meant not the Tupi language family / Tupian is SIL ) within the Tupi- Guarani languages belong next to the extinct language Old Tupi (São Paulo), Tupinambás, Tupinkin and Potiguara only three surviving languages: Nheengatu, Omagua and Cocama. However, the latter two are almost extinct. Closely related to these languages is also Guaraní with its different variants.
The Tupi has expanded the vocabulary of Brazilian Portuguese to hundreds of words, especially in the field of botany and zoology. Among the Tupi- words that have come to the German, include Piranha ( " tooth - fish"), tapir, cashew (also cashew, "Kidney tree"), passion fruit ( " plant, are the fruits " ), cassava and Carioca ( " house of the white man ", the name given to a resident of Rio de Janeiro). The two most famous words in the Tupi language in German are pineapple ( " gutriechende fruit" ) and Jaguar ( " jungle dog ").
The word " Tupi " itself means in the Tupi as much as " great father " or " leader."