• caraguata continuation ... and End (at least on my part)
..., re. the etymology itself I cannot help (much). Believe me I've tried, but the more I searched for it, the messier it got.
...
For some of this "mess" see below (and take this post with 'a grain of salt', or with a solid chunk of sound scepticism), it's posted simply in hope that someone more clever, or knowledgeable (with far better language skills) can make at least something out of it.
Consider it as nothing but (odd) bits and pieces in this puzzle, and if it doesn't make anyone wiser, just disregard (and forget) it all.
🧩 🧩🧩
Either way, one of the texts I stumbled upon was
this one (in French):
... on enlève facilement avec les doigts la peau qui recouvre les deux côtés, et il ne reste plus que la filasse que l'on appelle caraguatá.
Also see the following
here, from the (Ecuadorian) Amazon Area:
... will have the opportunity to visit Pishku Caraguata (‘Bird Island’) ...
[As far as I can tell
Pishku = Bird, in the language Quichua (a k a Kichwa), spoken in large parts of South America; Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, ...
As well compare with
Wikipedia's entry for the Mountain Range, and former Village; "Cuchilla de Caraguatá" (
here, alt.
here), or the "Caraguatá River" (
here).
The fog thickens ...
Thus, to me (without understanding neither French, nor Spanish), instead of an autochthonym as suggested in the
Key, it might be that 'c
araguata' would, or at least could, be a bionym (after its Habitat/Environment/favourite haunts), or even a toponym (after a place/location), of course.
Or ... !?!
For a similar use of the same word (i.e.
caraguatà) see;
here. Or
here, alt.
here, ... or elsewhere (they're all just a
Google search away).
Also note that, there's as well a Brazilian "Ponta do Caragu
età" mentioned
here (on p. 159), and the same word/spelling was/is as well used in the (Italian) phrase: "...
rapide di Caraguetà vieno all’ isola di Caraguetà, mentre ..." (
here). Or "Arroyo Caragu
ata, Itapúa" (
here, in Paraguay). If of any help?
Also compare with the Paraguayan Fruit/Plant "caraquatà" (guazu)
here ...
Well, that’s it. By now ... I'm totally lost.
And, that's as far as I can reach. I'm done.
Good luck finding out the exact origin/explanation ... (even if Natterer’s original piece/part seems pretty hard to find. And even if found, I think it's somewhat unlikely that it would contain much additional info (but, who knows?) ... stranger things have happened.
/B