Nheterõîa

== Old Tupi == === Alternative forms === === Etymology === Uncertain. According to Frederico Edelweiss, from nhe- (reflexive prefix) +‎ *terõ (“twisted, crooked, sinuous”) +‎ îá (particle of habit, of customary or persistent trait), literally “the [bay that is] very winding”, although the îá would have to become unstressed, and he does not provide other examples of the particle in question acting in a similar way. Edelweiss supports this hypothesis through José de Anchieta’s poem De gestis Mendi de Saa, where the port of Rio de Janeiro is twice referred to as the “winding port”. The word *terõ is not attested in Old Tupi, but it is in Classical Guarani (as terȏ́), in the vocabulary of Antonio Ruiz de Montoya. Eduardo de Almeida Navarro does not provide an etymology for the toponym in his dictionary. Compare Nheterõaíba, the name of a village in Cabo Frio. === Proper noun === Nheterõîa A bay in São Vicente Captaincy, equivalent to modern-day Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and its surrounding regions, namely modern-day Niterói and Rio de Janeiro ==== Descendants ==== → Portuguese: Niterói === References === anonymous author (1622), “Rio de Janeiro”, in Vocabulario na lingoa Braſilica (overall work in Portuguese), Piratininga; republished as Carlos Drummond, editor, Vocabulário na Língua Brasílica, 2nd edition, volume 2, São Paulo: USP, 1953, page 106: “Nheteroya”