Talk:List of Brazil state name etymologies

Tocantins
The etymology for "Tocantins" was fantasious because the indians could not have known of the shape of the Tocantins (river) mouth. Tocantins either comes from tukana + tinga = tukanting' or from tukana + tin = tukantin, but in the latter case it would mean something else: as Lincoln points out, the indians used to give nicknames to each other describing features of the body (a toucan nose, i.e. a large nose) or of the character (eíra + s + ema = born from honey). The state was named after the river which in its turn was probably named after an indian bearing that nickname.