abá

See also: Appendix:Variations of "aba"

Chaná

Pronunciation

• /a'βa/

Preposition

abá

1. in
   • Numít abá ianá
     • cooking in fat
2. in the middle of; among
   • abá atamá
     • in between rivers

Old Tupi

abá (sense 3)

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *aβa.

Cognate with Guaraní ava.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aˈβ̞a]
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: a‧bá

Noun

abá (unpossessable)

1. man (male human)
2. man (human, a person regardless of gender or sex)
3. (strictly) American Indian

   Abá peró supé onhe'eng.

   The Indians talked to the Portuguese.

   • c. 1583, Joseph of Anchieta, Auto de São Lourenço [Play of Saint Lawrence], Niterói, page 48; republished in Eduardo de Almeida Navarro, transl., compiled by Maria de Lourdes de Paula Martins, Teatro, 2nd edition, São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2006, →ISBN:

     — Abá ra'yrape ûĩ?!
     — Sé! Abá ra'yra, ipó...

     — Whose sons are these?!
     — No idea! Sons of Indians, definitely...

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:abá

Derived terms

• aba'yba
• ababykagûere'yma
• abaekoete'yma
• abaeté
• abagûasu
• abangatu
• abangaíba
• abanhẽ
• Abayky'îa
• abaîurupari

 

Pronoun

abá

1. (interrogative) what; which
2. someone, anyone

   Ké abá rekóû anhẽ.

   Someone is certainly here.

3. nobody, no one

   N'opytáî amõ abá maranápe.

   There was no one left at the battlefield.

Synonyms

• abá amõ

Pronoun

abá (plural abaabá)

1. (interrogative) who

   Abápe nde? ― Who are you?

References

• Pe. Antônio Lemos Barbosa (1956) Curso de Tupi Antigo: Gramática, Exercícios, Textos‎^[2] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Livraria São José
• Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “abá”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil‎^[3] (in Portuguese), 1 edition, São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, pages 5–6