ParaguaƧu
/paɾaÉ”waĖsu/noun
A proper name used chiefly for the ParaguaƧu River in Bahia, Brazil, and for places named after it.
Did you know?ParaguaƧu preserves Old Tupi vocabulary, in which river and water names often described the scale or character of the landscape itself.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-colonial period
Proto-Tupi-Guarani
*parĆ” + *wasu
āReconstructed roots meaning āriver or large body of waterā plus ālargeāā
16th Century
Old Tupi
parƔ + gƻasu
āāRiverā or āseaā combined with ālargeāā
16thā17th Century
Colonial Portuguese
ParaguaƧu
āIndigenous river name adopted into Portuguese recordsā
18thā19th Century
Brazilian Portuguese
ParaguaƧu
āName of the major river flowing through Bahiaā
Modern English
English
ParaguaƧu
āA Brazilian geographical proper noun, especially the ParaguaƧu Riverā