Also 8 jaguara. [a. Tupi-Guarani yaguara, jaguara (ya-, ʓawāra).
According to writers on Tupi-Guarani, jaguara or jagua is orig. a class-name for all carnivorous beasts, including the tiger (i.e., jaguar), the puma, etc., more recently also extended to dogs, the specific name of the jaguar being jaguareté, where -eté is a Tupi augmentative, generally rendered ‘true.’ De Lery (1580), cited by Hatz.-Darm., gave the native name as jan-ou-are (app. a misprint or misreading of jau-ou-are). The etymological meaning of the Tupi word is disputed: see Skeat in Trans. Philol. Soc., 1885, 89; also Burton, Highlands of Brazil, II. 21, Hans Stade, xliii.]
A large carnivorous quadruped of the cat kind (Felis onca), inhabiting wooded parts of America from Texas to Paraguay. It is yellowish-brown in color, and is marked with ocellated spots.
1604. E. Grimstone, trans. D’Acosta’s West Ind., V. iv. They ascribe power to another starre, which they called Chuquinchincay (which is as much as iaguar), over tigres, beares, and lyons.
[1648. Marcgrave, Hist. Nat. Brasil., VI. x. Jagvara Braziliensibus, nobis Tigris.]
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Jaguara, a Brasilian animal, accounted by Marggrave a species of tyger: but … approaching to the leopard in the shape of its variegations.
1771. Gentl. Mag., XLI. 589. In this state it [the Armadillo] braves the claws of the Jaguara.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. 146. The jaguar or panther of America.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. xviii. 50. It has even happened that the jaguar has carried off young negro women at work in the field.
1875. H. A. Nicholson, Man. Zool., lxxix. Of the large Spotted Cats, the largest is the Jaguar.
