BRAZILIAN TERMS
Alagôano: native of Alagôas. Native of Amazonas State, amazonense. Native of Bahia, bahiano; of Ceará, cearense; of Espirito Santo, espirito-saniense; of Goyaz, goyano; of Maranhão, maranhense; of Matto Grosso, matto-grossense; of Minas Geraes, mineiro; of Pará, paraense; of Paraná, paranaense; of Piauhy, piauhyense; of Parahyba, parahybano; of Pernambuco, pernambucano; of São Paulo, paulista; of Santa Catharina, catharinense; of Rio Grande do Norte and Rio Grande do Sul, riograndense do norte, or riograndense do sul; of Sergipe, sergipano. A native of the north is a nortista; of the south, a sulista; of Brazil, in general, brasileiro.
Aviador: properly, aviator, but has special meaning on the Amazon; is applied to the dealer who supplies the seringaes with outfit and food for the season, and who purchases the rubber crop. The aviado is the customer of the aviador.
Bateia: bowl for washing out placer gold.
Borracha: any kind of rubber in Brazilian; the term goma is also sometimes used, but applied only to latex of hevea brasiliensis.
Braços: lit. “arms,” that is, labourers; hands.
Cabotagem: Brazilian navigation, whether coastal or riverine.
Caipira: countryman from the south—“hayseed.” The equivalent type from the north is a matuto.
Capoeira: second growth of vegetation after land has been cleared. Also applied to kind of basket made of native grass; also to the Brazilian equivalent to jiu-jit-su; genuine capoeira adepts have remarkable muscular control. The term capoeira is also applied to a certain dance.
Capim: grass (plural, capins) of different kinds, as capim gordura, capim panasco, capim sertão, etc.
Carioca: native of Rio de Janeiro City—from the Carioca fountain, once fashionable centre of city.
Carreiro: by-path of the interior.
Colono: labourer imported, whether from another country or a sister State.
Conto: (of reis); one thousand milreis, or 1,000,000 reis. In paper, worth normally over £66, but since European War value fluctuates about £50, or say $250.
Engenho: sugar mill.
Estrada de Ferro: railroad; Rede ferroviario, railway system, lit. “net” of railways.
Fazenda: in South, any farm or estate of coffee, cacao, cattle, etc.; in north more exclusively applied to cattle farm. Fazendeiro, farmer or estate owner.
Fallencia: failure, bankruptcy.
Farinha: flour. — de mandioca, of two kinds “white” and “yellow,” made from root of one of the Euphorbias.
Feijão: beans, red, black or white, universal Brazilian food; feijoada, special dish made with beans, dried meat, pepper, mandioca flour, etc.
Flagellados: lit. “the scourged,” applied to people from the northern drought districts.
Fluminense: native of Rio de Janeiro State, from Lat. flumen, river; Portuguese discoverers thought Rio Bay mouth of a river, and so named it “River of January.” There is no river, but the name remains, and the fluminenses are proud to call themselves “river folk.”
Frigorifico: cold storage, properly; applied to packing-houses also.
Gaiola: properly, cage; also applied to small open boats traversing Amazonian fluvial network.
Garimpeiros: diamond hunters of Brazilian interior.
Herva: lit. herb: applied to the leaf of ilex paraguayensis, known in Brazil as herva matte and in Spanish America as yerba maté. Herval, forest of trees from which leaf is obtained: pl. hervaes.
Matadouro: slaughterhouse.
Matto: wild Brazilian woodland: matteiro, expert forester.
Modinha: Brazilian folk-song: term fado also used.
Parecer: lit. opinion; generally applied to views given upon public matters by eminent men.
Paroara: person going from another district to work in the Amazon rubber country.
Pauta: rate of export tax; changed frequently in response to international market prices for such Braz. goods as cacao, rubber, tobacco, sugar, etc.
Patrão: owner or manager of estate or business.
Pelle: ball of rubber made by seringueiros.
Praieiro: one who lives by the praia, or shore.
Rebanho: stock of animals, herd or flock.
Regatão: row-boats of petty traders upon Amazonian waterways.
Resaca: violent wave-movement, often seen in Rio and Recife, when a receding meets an oncoming wave and water is thrown up; resacas along the Rio sea-front often throw spray sixty feet into the air.
Romaria: pilgrimage made by religious-minded to the places where there are churches containing images of special devotion.
Safra: time of harvest; the crop yield is the colheita.
Seringa: gum of hevea brasiliensis; seringueira, rubber tree; seringueiro, man who collects rubber; seringal, rubber district in forest—pl. seringaes.
Serra: mountain range; serro, small hill. (Montanha, mountain.)
Sertão: Brazilian interior; pl. sertões. Sertanejo, sertanista, one who dwells in the sertão.
Tropa: troop—generally of mules, used for cargo carrying in interior of central and northern states; term also used in original sense of military regiment or battalion; tropeiro, the conductor of a troop of cargo mules or other animals.
Vaqueiro: (from vaca, cow)—employee specially employed upon stock-breeding estates. Compare with gaucho, the cowboy of the South.