Jim Sharkey wrote: > >> BTW, a lot of toponyms in Brazil are in Tupi-Guarani, >> which may look very weird for non-brazilians: >> Itaperuna, Itaorna, Jacarepagua, etc > > What is Tupi-Guarani? And please don't respond with > "It's a language." <:-)~ > It's a native south-american language. Ok. Full answer: it's a major linguistic group of languages that can be clumped together with this name; it's still spoken in Paraguay as a second [sometimes first] language. It was br second languange until ~1800, when Marques de Pombal [a very powerful Minister of Portugal during the reign of Dona Maria I a Louca [the Mad]] forbade its use. Alberto Monteiro
