py'a

Guaraní

Noun

py'a

1. belly, guts
2. stomach or heart, entrails
3. consciousness

Mbyá Guaraní

Noun

py'a

1. stomach, liver
2. heart, especially as a source of emotions
3. entrails

Possessed forms

    Possessed forms of py'a

singular			plural
1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person inclusive	1st person exclusive	2nd person	3rd person
xepy'a	ndepy'a	ipy'a	nhandepy'a	orepy'a	pendepy'a	ipy'a

Old Tupi

FWOTD – 28 May 2014, 19 July 2024

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *pɨʔa (“liver”), from Proto-Tupian *pɨʔa (“liver”).

Cognate with Guaraní py'a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pɨˈʔa]
• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: py‧'a

Noun

py'a (possessable, Ib class pluriform, absolute my'a)

1. liver
   • c. 1583, Joseph of Anchieta, Auto de São Lourenço [Play of Saint Lawrence], Niterói, page 66, lines 739–743; republished in Eduardo de Almeida Navarro, transl., compiled by Maria de Lourdes de Paula Martins, Teatro, 2nd edition, São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2006, →ISBN:

     ſar. […] Yia muru, ipiapuera
     xepotabamo toico.
     Aimb. xe cori ipia çoo.
     ſara. tou yande roipiroera
     çeçe pabê tiaixoo.

     [Saraûaîa: […] Iîa muru! I py'apûera / xe potabamo t'oîkó.
     Aîmbiré: Xe kori i pyîaso'o.
     Saraûaîa: T'o'u îandé roŷpyrûera / sesé pabẽ t'îaîxo'o.]

     Saraûaîa: […] Serves them right! Their severed livers are gonna be my portion.
     Aîmbiré: Today I want their loin.
     Saraûaîa: The one's that stayed at our houses shall eat them. We should invite everyone because of them.

2. stomach

   Synonym: ygegûasu

   • 1578, Jean de Léry, chapter XX, in Histoire d'un voyage fait en la terre du Bresil, autrement dite Amerique [History of a voyage to the land of Brazil, also called America] (overall work in Middle French and Old Tupi), La Rochelle: Antoine Chuppin, page 365:

     Ché-puyac.

     [Xe py'a.]

     My stomach.

3. (figuratively) heart (source of one's feelings and emotions)
   • 1622, anonymous author, Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica, volume 1 (overall work in Old Tupi and Portuguese), Piratininga, page 36; republished as Carlos Drummond, editor, Vocabulário na Língua Brasílica, 2nd edition, São Paulo: USP, 1953:

     Xepiaecotebẽ.

     [Xe py'aekotebẽ.]

     I have an anguished heart.

5. (figuratively) mind; brains (source of one's thoughts and awareness)
6. (figuratively) core; bowels (deepest or innermost part)
   • 16th century, Joseph of Anchieta, compiled by Eduardo de Almeida Navarro and Helder Perri Ferreira, Poemas: lírica portuguesa e tupi (Poetas do Brasil; 5), 2nd edition, São Paulo: Martins Fontes, published 2004, →ISBN, page 130, lines 27-31:

     Acoeime aicotebẽ
     Xerecopochipuruabo
     taiticpac coty ypeabo
     xenhiãme tereique
     Xepig-a moingatuabo.

     [Akûeîme aîkotebẽ / xe rekopoxy purûabo. / T'aîtyk pá koty i pe'abo. / Xe nhy'ãme t'ereîké / xe py'a moingatûabo.]

     In the past, I was anguished, commiting wrongdoings. May I throw away all traps, repelling them. May you enter in my heart, protecting my core.

Usage notes

Tupians and other South American indigenous cultures considered the liver to be the center of emotions, much like how European cultures see the heart, which led to various translation errors and misunderstandings that were inherited by Old Tupi descendants. Heart as an organ was called nhy'ã.

Related terms

• py'aká
• py'anhemongetá
• py'arĩ
• py'aûpîara
• py'aûpîara
• xe py'ape
• xe py'ape nhote
• xe py'apekatu

 

Descendants

• Nheengatu: piá

References

• Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “py'a”, 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 414, column 1