inajá

inajá

English

Etymology

From a native name, said by Century to be Tupian, probably via Portuguese inajá.

Noun

inajá (plural inajás)

1. The South American palm tree Attalea maripa (syn. Maximiliana maripa, formerly also Maximiliana regia).
   • 1864, Sophy Moody, The Palm Tree, page 286:

     The great woody spathes of the Inajá Palm are used by hunters as cooking vessels for their meat; when filled with water they stand fire.

   • 1908, Richard Spruce, Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon & Andes: […] , page 362:

     The peak on the left has a broader top, and bears a good deal of forest, among which I thought I could distinguish two palms, probably Inajás, for my Indians found an Inajá palm growing at the highest point they attained, and [...]

   • 2014, Nigel Smith, Palms and People in the Amazon, Springer (→ISBN), page 93:

     Because the palm is so useful, the [natives] of the Fresco River, a tributary of the Xingu, set fires to encourage groves of inajá (Hecht 2003).

     Fig. 13.2 Inajá palms in a pasture invaded by weeds.