The Nheengatu language (Tupi: ), often spelled Nhengatu, is an Amerindian language of a Tupi–Guarani family. It is also known by the Portuguese names língua geral da Amazônia and língua geral amazônica, both meaning "Amazonian General Language," or even by the Latin lingua brasilica (Brazilian Language). Nheengatu originated in northern Brazil in the 17th century as a lingua franca. Now known as nheengatu (also nhengatu, nyengatú, língua geral, geral, yeral), it is still spoken along the Rio Negro in northern Brazil (as well as in neighboring Colombia and Venezuela).
Read more about Nheengatu Language: Current Status, History
Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The etymologist finds the deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture. Language is fossil poetry. As the limestone of the continent consists of infinite masses of the shells of animalcules, so language is made up of images or tropes, which now, in their secondary use, have long ceased to remind us of their poetic origin.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)