cougar

The next group of South American languages that English snaffled vocabulary from is Tupian, in particular Old (aka Classical) Tupi and Guaraní. The former was originally spoken in southeastern coastal Brazil and then spread inland by colonial Portuguese as a widely spoken lingua franca (including by speakers of other Tupian languages through the rest of Brazil) that’s now used only in one restricted region, while the latter was and remains a majority language of Paraguay (the other being Spanish) and immediate adjacent lands. Most of what I’m posting are from Old Tupi (transmitted by Portuguese). Since Old Tupi was spoken in the Amazon basin, I could fill a couple weeks with just jungle animals, but Imma keep it to one week, though, somehow. Maybe. Starting with a surprising one that was also surprising a few weeks ago:


cougar (KOO-ger) - n., a large powerful American wild cat (Puma concolor) with an unmarked tawny body and a long tail; (slang) an older woman who seeks relationships with younger men.



Thanks, WikiMedia!


In the first sense, also called puma, mountain lion, mountain cat, catamount, and panther. (Told you this would come back.) This name entered English in the 1770s (same timeframe as puma!) from French couguar, from Portuguese cuguardo, alteration (apparently influenced by jaguar) of Brazilian Portuguese çuçuarana/suçuarana, from either Old Tupi sûasuarana (literally, deer-like animal) or Guaraní guaçuara. (I have questions about this etymology, the most important being, how the hell do you mistake a cougar for a deer?!?)

---L.