#Monkey is a term of #African origin

2 years ago
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Monkey is a term of African origin (probably from the Bantu Makako)[1] used as a common designation for all species of apes or anthropoid primates. It is applied restrictively in Brazil to cebids (or New World monkeys) in general. In the strict sense, "monkey" refers to primate species belonging to the genus Macaca. The name mico originates, according to Dicionário Aurélio,[2] from the caraíba (karib) continental. It is widely used in Brazil, where it is usually applied to species of the genus Cebus, in the South, and to small-sized species, or marmosets, in the North.

The term marmoset originates from the ancient Tupi sagûi and also designates the small-sized callitrichid monkeys.[3]

Also according to Cunha,[4] the term simian, which also designates monkeys (having been recorded in Portuguese in the 16th and 17th centuries), comes from the Latin simius, from simus, "that has a flat nose".

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