Reviewing the etymology of 'abacaxi' (‘pineapple’) with new historical and philological data

Abstract

The consensual etymological hypothesis for abacaxi ‘pineapple’ is that this word originates from the Tupi, by the combination of the elements yvá ‘fruit’ and katĩ ‘that smells’, ‘that exhalates smell’. In this article, this hypothesis is reevaluated based on data from previous attestations of this word. Initially, lexicographic data with etymological descriptions are presented (section 2); then, we evaluate the phonetic-phonological transformations implied by the consensual hypothesis, leading to the conclusion that this hypothesis it is controversial (section 3). In section 4, historical-philological data are presented that show that the word abacaxi designated an indigenous people, a river and a Jesuit mission, at least a century before designating a fruit. Thus, it is incoherent to assume that a word that referred to a people could have as its etymology ‘fruit that smells’. Finally, we conclude that the consensual etymological hypothesis should be treated as controversial and that a new etymological hypothesis should be sought not for the name of a fruit, but for the name of an indigenous people.