Editing Brazil (section)

== Etymology ==
{{Main|Name of Brazil}}
The word ''Brazil'' probably comes from the Portuguese word for [[Caesalpinia echinata|brazilwood]], a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.<ref name="Fausto1999">{{Cite book |last=Fausto |first=Boris |url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00faus |title=A Concise History of Brazil |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-521-56526-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00faus/page/9 9] |url-access=registration}}</ref> In Portuguese, brazilwood is called ''pau-brasil'', with the word ''brasil'' commonly given the etymology "red like an [[ember]]", formed from ''brasa'' ('ember') and the suffix ''-il'' (from ''-iculum'' or ''-ilium'').<ref name="Vincent2003">{{Cite book |last=Jon S. Vincent. |url=https://archive.org/details/culturecustomsof0000vinc |title=Culture and Customs of Brazil |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-313-30495-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/culturecustomsof0000vinc/page/36 36] |url-access=registration}}</ref> It has alternatively been suggested that this is a folk etymology for a word for the plant related to an Arabic or Asian word for a red plant.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Brazil#etymonline_v_17075 |title=Brazil &#124; Etymology of the name Brazil by etymonline |access-date=24 March 2024 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324183937/https://www.etymonline.com/word/Brazil#etymonline_v_17075 |url-status=live }}</ref> As [[Paubrasilia|brazilwood]] produces a deep red dye, it was highly valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil.<ref name="Tucker2007">{{Cite book |last=Richard P. Tucker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2V2q30BdEJ8C&pg=PA186 |title=Insatiable Appetite: The Ecological Degradation of the Tropical World |publisher=University of Michigan |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7425-5365-1 |page=186 |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=29 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129183601/https://books.google.com/books?id=2V2q30BdEJ8C&pg=PA186#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Throughout the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|indigenous peoples]] (mostly [[Tupi people|Tupi]]) along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders (mostly Portuguese, but also French) in return for assorted European consumer goods.<ref name="Lee2011">{{Cite book |last=Wayne E. Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xatMrooibacC&pg=PA196 |title=Empires and Indigenes: Intercultural Alliance, Imperial Expansion, and Warfare in the Early Modern World |publisher=NYU Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8147-6527-2 |page=196 |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215221303/https://books.google.com/books?id=xatMrooibacC&pg=PA196#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the "Land of the Holy Cross" (''Terra da Santa Cruz''),<ref name="Corporation1880">{{Cite magazine |last=Daly |first=Charles P. |year=1880 |title=Maps and Map-making Before Mercator |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hiQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA493 |magazine=The Popular Science Monthly |publisher=Bonnier Corporation |at=473–495, see page 493 |issn=0161-7370 |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215221315/https://books.google.com/books?id=hiQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA493#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> but European sailors and merchants commonly called it the "Land of Brazil" (''Terra do Brasil'') because of the brazilwood trade.<ref name="Léry1990">{{Cite book |last=Jean de Léry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8qqKoCSWVkC&pg=PA242 |title=History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil, Otherwise Called America |publisher=University of California Press |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-520-91380-6 |page=242 |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215221327/https://books.google.com/books?id=F8qqKoCSWVkC&pg=PA242#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name. Some early sailors called it the "Land of Parrots".<ref name="Sokolow2003">{{Cite book |last=Jayme A. Sokolow. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ytghV9q6v3cC&pg=PA84 |title=The Great Encounter: Native Peoples and European Settlers in the Americas, 1492–1800 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7656-0982-3 |page=84 |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215221351/https://books.google.com/books?id=ytghV9q6v3cC&pg=PA84#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the [[Guaraní language]], an official language of [[Paraguay]], Brazil is called "Pindorama", meaning 'land of the palm trees'.<ref name="Herrera-Sobek2012">{{Cite book |last=Maria Herrera-Sobek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lY-tY62V1FIC&pg=PA155 |title=Celebrating Latino Folklore |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-313-34340-7 |page=155 |access-date=16 June 2015 |archive-date=15 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240215221353/https://books.google.com/books?id=lY-tY62V1FIC&pg=PA155 |url-status=live }}</ref>