pirasema

Old Tupi

Etymology

From pirá (“fish”) +‎ sema (“exit”).

Noun

pirasema (?)

1. (hapax) the period of the year when fish migrate upriver to reproduce

Descendants

• Nheengatu: pirasema
• → Brazilian Portuguese: piracema

References

• Joseph of Anchieta (1560) [Ao Padre Geral, de São Vicente] (overall work in Portuguese); republished as chapter X, in Júlio Afrânio Peixoto, compiler, Cartas, informações, fragmentos historicos e sermões [Letters, information, historical fragments and sermons] (Cartas jesuiticas; 3), Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1933, page 106: “pirácema”
• Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “pirasema”, 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 387, column 1