The following work is a glossary of Portuguese terms found in Thomas Skidmore’s text, Brazil, Five Centuries of Change. The glossary defines the terms in English and where necessary, explains the significance of the term with regards to Brazilian history and culture. This glossary is important as it helps to clarify some often misunderstood terms for English speaking students of Brazilian history and also provides a unique and native insight on commonly used Brazilian terms. This work was compiled by a several Portuguese speaking students, namely Josh Rowe and native Brazilian, Adi Gould (a graduate student who agreed to submit part of her work to our project). This glossary is integral to the larger goals of our project as it defines many of the terms common to the study of Brazilian history so that all can easily understand their meaning and significance.
| Term in Portuguese | Literal Translation | Definition |
| A cidade de rio |
The city of Rio |
|
| A Nôva Política | The new politics | |
| Ação Integralista Brasileira | Brasilian Fundamentalist Action | |
| Aldeias | Villages | Jesuit run native village |
| Aliança National Libertadora | National Liberation Alliance | |
| Amarelo | Yellow | A racial category introduced by the Brazilian
government in the census to attempt to categorize the racial makeup of the
country. It was generally associated with Brazilians of East-Asian descent.
However, it was not a very widely diffused identity, with few people self
identifying as amarelo. |
| Aos Grades do Portugal | Authorities in Portugal | |
| Bandeirantes | Backwoodsmen, explorers | The main explorers of the Brazilian frontier and later became the subject of myths and folklore as well as a symbol of national identity. The traditional image of the banderiante includes that of a swashbuckling male with superhuman courage who combats the forces of nature and dangers of the natives. However, throughout history, a wide range of people joined in the bandeiras (expeditions) including plantation owners, traders, mulattos and the military. |
| Bandeiras, |
Flags |
|
| Bilhetes |
Tickets |
|
| Bóias-frias |
Cold lunch |
|
| Branquear |
become
whiter |
|
| Cabras | goats | Pro Brazilian faction |
| Caipira | Country folk | A term used to identify people living in rural areas in the interior regions of Brazil who many times have a distinct accent identifiable the region. The closest English language translation for caipira lies somewhere between the English words redneck and backwoodsman. The caipira identity or stereotype is marked by a rugged nature and strong work ethic coupled with a degree of backwardness, lack of education, naivety, and use of "informal" Portuguese. During Festa Junina, a winter holiday, many people celebrate the Caipira lifestyle by dressing up in stereotypical Caipira clothing and blacking out teeth. This is ironically underscored by the fact that most people who celebrate Festa Junina are non-Capiras. |
| Candomblé | Candomblé | Candomblé is a religion that developed in the
Northeast of Brazil during the period of African slave trade. It is still practiced today, mostly within Brazil but in some other countries as
well. While Candomble is heavily influenced by African traditions and belief
systems carried over to Brazil by African slaves, it is a religion that developed independently within Brazil and is in many ways different from past or present religions indigenous to Africa. Religions similar to Candomble
exist in other countries with legacies of slavery, most notably Cuba. At the essence of Candoble is a
veneration of nature, and it is a polytheistic religion with a host of
spiritual entities, or orixas,
that represent different natural manifestations. These orixas have human
characteristics and are often compared with the gods and goddesses of Greek
mythology. Many of these
spiritual entities have corresponding saints in the Catholic church; in a
phenomenon called syncretism, elements of Candomble and of Catholicism are
combined. Many terreiros,
or centers of Candomble, include Catholic icons.
Candomble was originally confined to slave populations, banned by the
Catholic and persecuted and criminalized by the government. While today it
still suffers some prejudices, especially by the Evangelical Christian community,
it has thrived and expanded and is now an established and recognized
religion. The center of
Candomble remains in and around the cities Salvador and Cachoeira in the
state of Bahia. |
| Capoeira | Capoeira | Capoeira developed in the slave communities of
colonial Brazil, beginning in the 15th century. It is a genre of physical
movement that, which incorporates martial art, dance, musical performance,
and folkloric ritual. Capoeira games are played between two people who spar
using ritualized and improvised movement. These games take place within a
roda, or ring of participants, and are accompanied by instrumental music and
song. The lyrics of Capoeira songs are imbued with allegorical imagery,
historical and religious references, and social commentary. The art’s roots
draw on African tradition and on the slaves’ need for an effective form of
resistance. Always informed by changing political and social conditions in
Brazil, Capoeira has undergone numerous transformations. With abolition, in
1888, Capoeira became associated with the crime and street violence many
freed slaves resorted to finding themselves without financial means or social
status. In the early 1930s, Capoeira was formally institutionalized with the
hope it would become Brazil’s national sport. It began gaining legitimacy within Brazil, and in the
1970s began to achieve worldwide popularity. Having once been disdained by
mainstream Brazil as a dubious pastime for the poor, criminal, and
marginalized black population, Capoeira has transformed into a celebrated
symbol of the nation's Afro-Brazilian heritage. Its history is bound to the
history of race in Brazil, and while it has been synthesized to accommodate a
global culture, Capoeira still remains politicized within Brazil as a
platform for Afro-Brazilian empowerment. |
| Cerrado |
Cerrado |
interior farmland |
| Compadresco |
God-grandparents |
|
| Consciência negra |
black
awareness |
date of Zumbi’s death celebrated as such in Rio |
| Contestado (war of the) |
Challenged |
|
| Cortes |
Cuts |
representative body |
| Cortiços |
Tenements |
|
| Custo Brasil |
Cost/expense of Brazil |
|
| Dia do Fico |
Day of "I stay" |
September 7, Pedro decides to stay in Brazil as emperor |
| El Macacón |
The Big
Ape |
Pedro II was dubbed this by Paraguayan propaganda |
| Engenhos |
Mills |
|
| Entradas | Entries | |
| Escola Superior de Guerra | Higher education of war | |
| Estado Nôvo | The New State | After staging a coup in 1930 to overthrow Prestes and being elected by the Constituent Assembly of 1933-34, Getúlio Vargas had promised presidential elections in 1938. According to the constitution, he was ineligible to run for another term, and so Vargas conspired to stage another coup and prevent the election. On November 10, 1937, Vargas announced over the radio that a new Constitution had been drawn for the New State (or Estado Nôvo). This marked the beginning of the Vargas dictatorship. |
| Exaltados | The exalted | A group opposed to Pedro II and moderate liberals, wanted greater provincial autonomy, some favored a republic |
| Expedições |
Expeditions |
bandeirantes expeditions |
| Falta de braços | Lack of arms | |
| Favelas | Shantytowns | Favelas are shantytowns found in many Brazilian cities, especially the largest ones such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Though some favelas started as informal neighborhoods for people without access to land or credit they have become a more or less permanent part of the landscape of many cities with millions of people currently inhabiting them. The drug-related violence that pervades many favelas is an unfortunate fact of life that those who live there must learn to deal with. Turf wars between organized gangs create danger within the favelas that at times spills over into the surrounding areas. In many favelas order is kept more often by the local drug traffickers than by the police since the police will rarely enter the favelas due to the drug-related danger. Even so, favelas have a dual identity and signify the epicenter for many cultural phenomena deemed distinctly Brazilian. Many of the most notable samba schools are still located in favelas, much samba music still comes from favelas, and the funk genre of music and also the way to dance to it originated from the favelas. |
| Fazendeiro |
Farmer |
|
| Feitorias | Factories | |
| Futebol | Soccer | Futebol, known as soccer or
football in English, is an integral and oft-exported part of the collective
Brazilian identity. For many Brazilians futebol represents ideas and ideals that go beyond the excitement
of the game itself. Internationally it has become one of the
nation’s most visible symbols. As such it represents the Brazilian struggle
for modernity as a nation split between the first and third worlds attempting
to elbow its way into the power structure. Domestically futebol transcends all of Brazil’s
geographic and socioeconomic divisions. This makes it an easy point of
distraction and, as Roman rulers in the past used games and competitions,
Brazilian leaders have historically used futebol as a rallying point for a national identity, or as a method
to appease the populace and distract citizens from inequality and suffering.
With five World Cup titles under its belt as of the writing of this
excerpt—the most of any country—it is easy to understand why Brazilians have
such a zeal for, and are so easily taken with futebol. |
| Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro |
Rio de Janeiro gazette |
replica
of Portugal's gazette |
| Grito do Ipiranga |
Cry of Ipiranga |
|
| Guarda Nacional |
National Guard |
|
| Iemanja | Iemanja |
|
| Índio | Indian | The natives play a very important and expansive role in the history of Brazil. All methods from extermination and placing on reservations to integration into society were practiced. At the time of European discovery, these natives were mainly nomadic or semi-nomadic, existing on fishing, hunting, gathering and occasionally some agriculture. The thousands of tribes that existed at the introduction of European settlement died off or were directly exterminated. There has been much mixing with this population as a result of bandeirante and Jesuit activities. Today the cultural contributions of these natives are great, varying from food to dance and dress. |
| Instituto da pesquisas e estudos sociais |
Institute of research and social studies |
|
| Juiz de fora |
Outside judge |
regional judgeship |
| Justiça do Trabalho |
Work court |
|
| Latifundias |
Estates |
|
| Liga de Defesa Nacional |
National Defense League |
|
| Liga Nacionalista |
National League |
|
| Malés |
Malés |
Muslims, black Africans that rose up in Salvador
1835 |
| Mamelucos |
Mamelucos |
mixed population |
| Memórias do Cárcere |
Cárcere's memoirs |
|
| Município | municipality | The cities, regions or towns of Brazil as defined by territory and population. Some of the most significant and historically relevant ones are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Recife. |
| Navegar é preciso! |
We must
sail! |
|
| Navio negreiro | Black ship | Ship carrying African slaves from Africa to Brazil |
| O Estado de São Paulo | leading newspaper for São Paulo | The role of this newspaper is very reflective of the state of Brazil and its people. For example, it never referred to Getúlio Vargas by his full name, instead preferring to use: “ex-dictator”. During the military dictatorship beginning in 1964, it was subject to prior censorship meaning that an army officer had to clear each copy before it was printed. |
| O Globo |
The Globe |
A conservative, daily newspaper
published in Rio de Janeiro. The closest cultural equivalent in the United
States would be USA Today |
| Panelinha | The little pan | A network of friends |
| Pardo | brown | A racial category that includes a broad range of mixed racial ancestry. It first appeared in censuses in the 19th century, when race was determined by the census taker, for whom “pardo” served as a miscellany category, when the subject could not be classified as either 'black', 'white', or 'yellow'. Beginning in the 1950s the census became based on self-classification, and pardo appeared as a category. There has been a rise in the number of individuals self-identifying as pardo. In 2000 38.5% or the population identified as such. |
| Partido Social Democrático | Democratic Social Party | |
| Partido social progressista | Progressive Social Party | |
| Partido Trablhista Brasileiro | the workers party | political party functioning as the political arm of urban workers – This party, founded in 1945, found a patron in Vargas “who hoped to create a Brazilian version of the European Social Democratic parties”. Once the Dutra government outlawed the Communist Party, the PTB remained the only party in Brazil that appealed to the urban worker. This party was dissolved after the military coup in 1964 and then reformed in 1981 as a legacy. |
| Patrão | Patron | |
| Patria | Fatherland | regional homeland, Brazilians identified more with their region that the whole of Brazil (eg. patria paulista, patria bahiana) |
| Pés de chumbo |
lead feet |
Pro-Portuguese |
| Positivismo |
Positivism |
|
| Praça | Town square | |
| Preto/negro | black | A racial classification signifying black. The term”preto” has derogatory connotations and “negro” is the generally acceptable way to refer to black individuals. The question of racial identity in Brazil is infinitely complex, and people of a broad range of racial backgrounds self identify and are identified as “negro.” Miscegenation has created a large population of individuals of mixed race, and the way in which they racially identify can be based on cultural factors as much as on the degree of darkness of their skin. |
| Programa de Metas |
Program of Goals |
|
| Queremistas |
Those who want (colloquial, invented word) |
|
| Quilombos | Quilombos | Quilombos (also known as mocambos) originated in Brazil as
communities of escaped African slaves who banded together and lived
communally. There were many different types and sizes of quilombos all over Brazil ranging from
several dozen people to over 20,000 as in the case of the most famous quilombo: Palmares. Generally speaking quilombos established themselves in the
interior, away from the plantations from which many inhabitants escaped. Most
were not self-sustaining. Evidence of small-scale, subsistence farming
exists, but many quilombos survived
by plundering neighboring settlements for food. Following the trends of the
Brazilian slave population at the time most quilombos
were overwhelmingly male, and there are recorded
cases of members of quilombos kidnapping female slaves from plantations or European women from
settlements. The penchant that many quilombos’ inhabitants had for appropriating both women and foodstuffs
created general uneasiness amongst many European settlers. Perceived as
a threat by the Portuguese and Dutch to the social order and stability of the
slave economy, there were many military expeditions mounted to crush the
presence of quilombos in
the Brazilian interior. Even so, many escaped destruction, and continued as
symbols of freedom for slaves in bondage. Today many quilombos still exist within Brazil,
although they have changed throughout the years, and serve as reminders of
the Brazilian population’s ties to Africa. |
| Real | Real | the name of Brazilian currency |
| Resgate | Ransom | ransoming, buying back people |
| Sertão | Backlands | the term was first used by the Portuguese to refer to the expanse of Brazilian land away from the Atlantic coast where they first settled. Later on it came to refer to the semi-arid geographical region in Northeast Brazil, covering parts of Alagoas, Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Piauí. Rainfall in the Sertao is infrequent and erratic, and inhabitants of that region, many of whom are subsistence farmers, suffer from famine brought on by persistent drought, occasional flooding, and extremely unbalanced land ownership. The plight of the people of the Sertao was made famous by the book Os Sertoes, translated as Rebellion in the Backlands, written by the journalist Euclides da Cunha. |
| Sociedade promotora da imigracao |
The Society for the Promotion of Immigration |
|
| Superintendência para o desenvolvimento do
nordeste |
The Superintendancy for the development of the
Northeast |
|
| Tenentes |
Lieutenents |
|
| Tenentismo |
A political-military movement |
|
| União Democrática Nacional |
National Democratic Union |
|
| Uti possidetis |
Ownership by possession |
|
| Valorização | Valorization | |
| Veja | See | Veja is a widely read Brazilian weekly national magazine published by the editor Abril. It includes articles about current domestic and international events, colorful graphic and photographic elements, interviews, and reports. Time Magazine in the U.S. would be a close cultural equivalent. |
| Zona da mata |
Forested zone |
humid
strip |
| Zona de agreste | Wilderness zone | semi-arid region |
