Talk:List of Brazil state name etymologies

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Tocantins[edit]

The etymology for "Tocantins" was fantasious because the indians could not have known of the shape of the Tocantins (river) mouth. Tocantins either comes from tukana + tinga = tukanting' or from tukana + tin = tukantin, but in the latter case it would mean something else: as Lincoln points out, the indians used to give nicknames to each other describing features of the body (a toucan nose, i.e. a large nose) or of the character (eíra + s + ema = born from honey). The state was named after the river which in its turn was probably named after an indian bearing that nickname.