Name of Brazil

Etymology
Main article: Name of Brazil
The word “Brazil” likely comes from the Portuguese word for brazilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast.[37] In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology “red like an ember”, form

ed from brasa (“ember”) and the suffix -il (from -iculum or -ilium).[38] As brazilwood produces a deep red dye, it was highly valued by the European textile industry and was the earliest commercially exploited product from Brazil.[39] Throughout the 16th century, massive amounts of brazilwood were harvested by indigenous peoples (mostly Tupi) along the Brazilian coast, who sold the timber to European traders (mostly Portuguese, but also French) in return for assorted European consumer goods.[40]

The official Portuguese name of the land, in original Portuguese records, was the “Land of the Holy Cross” (Terra da Santa Cruz),[41] but European sailors and merchants commonly called it simply the “Land of Brazil” (Terra do Brasil) because of the brazilwood trade.[42] The popular appellation eclipsed and eventually supplanted the official Portuguese name. Some early sailors called it the “Land of Parrots”.[43]

In the Guarani language, an official language of Paraguay, Brazil is called “Pindorama”. This was the name the indigenous population gave to the region, meaning “land of the palm trees”.[44]