Katembri (Catrimbi, Kiriri of Mirandela) is an extinct Indigenous language of Bahia, northeastern Brazil, thought to have been spoken by the Katembri people of the historical mission of Saco dos Morcegos, presently located in Mirandela. Its vocabulary consists of a mixture of vocabulary from the Kariri language and an unidentified language, considered to have been that of the Katembri.
History The last fluent speakers of the language were reported to have died around 1957.
Documentation It is known from about 50 words collected from a notebook owned by Josias Rodriguez, the Capitão of the Indian Protection Service (SPI) post of Mirandela, and copied by Alfred Métraux during a 1950 visit to the region. Rodriguez himself only knew two or three words in the language, but the notebook had the words awkwardly written in it by a young Kiriri who had completed . Some more vocabulary, totalling about 100 words, collected in 1961 by SIL linguist Wilbur Pickering from João Manoel Domingo, an elderly rememberer from Mirandela, Banzaê, Bahia, who only knew some words in the language, a manuscript by from Domingo as well, and a 1967 wordlist collected by Maria de Lourdes Bandeira and published in 1972, also from Domingo, as well as two other rememberers.
Classification Initially, Métraux and the Czech linguist Čestmír Loukotka thought "Katembri" to be an isolated language. Loukotka found only a few similarities to the Kariri language. It was classified as one of the 109 independent families and languages in the classification of Loukotka and French linguist Paul Rivet. Morris Swadesh, in his 1959 classification, grouped "Mirandela" as a member of his "Macro-Carib" family, along with the Cariban languages, Kariri, the nearly extinct languages Taruma and Guató, and the extinct Jirajaran languages. Terrence Kaufman (1994) proposed to link it exclusively with Taruma, based on the classifications of Swadesh and Joseph Greenberg, although this has not been accepted by other scholars. Its vocabulary is composed of primarily Kariri words with a number of vocabulary items coming from an unidentified language. Raoul Zamponi (2026) concludes thatIt seems most likely that the non-Karirí native words gathered around Mirandela belong to the unattested language of a disappeared group once living not far from the town, called Katembri or Catrimbí.The online language database Glottolog interprets documentation of the language as belonging to a continuation of Kipeá, a dialect of the Kariri language. "Katembri or Kiriri Mirandela-Metraux very likely a continuation of Kipea"
Geographic distribution Katembri was spoken at the mission of Saco dos Morcegos, now within Mirandela, Bahia. Three Indigenous peoples lived at the mission in 1759, the Masakará (who spoke a Kamakã language), the Kiriri people and the Katembri. According to Czech linguist Čestmír Loukotka, the vocabulary does not coincide with Masakará and only a few do with Kariri; the rest are entirely different. Métraux thus concluded that the vocabulary he had copied was that of the language of the Katembri.
Vocabulary
Meader (1978) Wilbur Pickering collected the following wordlist in 1961 from Domingo:
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Portuguese gloss (original) !! English gloss (translated) !! Kiriri |- | água || water || |- | barriga || belly || |- | cabeça || head || |- | cachorro || dog || |- | carne de boi || beef || |- | casa || home || |- | cobra || snake || |- | dentes || teeth || |- | fogo || fire || |- | fumo || smoke || |- | língua || tongue || |- | mandioca || cassava || |- | milho || corn || |- | milho verde || green corn || |- | mulher || woman || |- | nariz || nose || |- | olhos || eyes || |- | onça || jaguar || |- | orelhas || ears || |- | papagaio || parrot || |- | perto || near || |- | pés || foot || |- | sal || salt || |- | sol || sun || |- | sujo || dirty || |- | velho || old || |- | abóbora || pumpkin || |- | (está) alegre || (be) happy || |- | andar no mato || go into the bush || |- | ave (arapuá) || type of bird || |- | ave (inambu) || tinamou || |- | batata || potato || |- | bater (?) || hit (?) || |- | branco || white || |- | cachimbo || smoking pipe || |- | camaleão || chameleon || |- | carregado || loaded || |- | cavalo || horse || |- | comida gostosa || delicious food || |- | coxa || thigh || |- | criação || creation || |- | cutia || agouti || |- | dedos || fingers || |- | deus || God || |- | dinheiro || money || |- | ema || rhea || |- | faca (arco?) || knife (bow?) || |- | feijão || bean || |- | um tipo de fruta || a type of fruit || |- | miolo || core || |- | gato || cat || |- | índio || Indian || |- | jabuti || red-footed tortoise or yellow-footed tortoise || |- | jacu (ave) || jacu (Penelope) || |- | joelho || knee || |- | maltrapilho || person wearing shabby clothes || |- | manco || lame || |- | melão || melon || |- | mentira || lie (not truth) || |- | muita gente || many people || |- | muito obrigado || Thank you very much. || |- | mulher bonita || beautiful woman || |- | peba || six-banded armadillo|| |- | peneirar || sift || |- | pessoa amarela || yellow person || |- | pessoa vermelha || red person || |- | pestana || eyelash || |- | preto || black || |- | quadril || hip || |- | quati || coati || |- | quente || hot || |- | raposa || fox || |- | raso || shallow || |- | sacola || bag || |- | sene || senile || |- | surdo || deaf || |- | tamanduá || tamandua || |- | tatu || armadillo || |- | urubu || vulture || |- | veado || deer || |- | verdade || truth || |- | à vontade || at ease || |- | (está) zangado || (be) angry ||
Bandeira (1972) The wordlists of Kariri of Mirandela by Bandeira (1972) and Edelweiss are presented below.Bandeira, Maria de Lourdes. 1972. Os Kariris de Mirandela: Um Grupo Indígena Integrado. Estudos Baianos 6. Salvador: Universidade Federal da Bahia. (Apêndice "Sobrevivência lingüística", p. 111-118; "Bibliografia", p. 169-171) {| class="wikitable sortable" !Gloss !Bandeira !Edelweiss |- |corn meal
|manioc
|turtle
|horse
|ox, cow
|deer
|smoking pipe
|smoke
|dry root
|chest
|to be shining
|white person
|priest
|God
|ear
|eye
|nose
|arm
|hand
|tooth, teeth
|femur
|Indigenous person, caboclo | |, |- |woman
|white person with red hair
|red
|truth
|lie
|angry
|happy
|drunk
|strike, blow
|money
|knife, bow |,
|round thing
|mountain of stone
|cachaça
|yellow
|fox
|snake
|tongue
|eyelashes, eyebrows
|belly
|foot
|hair, head
|fingers, pebbles
|buttocks, seat
|coati
|jaguar
|chachalaca
|Penelope
|agouti
|greater rhea
|collared peccary
|tinamou
|New World vulture
|six-banded armadillo
|nine-banded armadillo
|chameleon
|Tupinambis
|lizard
|goats
|cat (domestic)
|pig
|striped hog-nosed skunk
|corn
|potato
|watermelon
|pumpkin, gourd
|manioc flour
|tapioca
|child
|old
|old person bent over
|sarará
|well-dressed woman
|tall person
|slovenly
|hammock
|hammock for children
|sling for carrying children
|clothing
|house
|Mirandela
|sun
|mountain
|cigarette
|fallen fruit
|fire
|boneless meat
|water, rain, wind
|thunder
|lightning
|shotgun
|with desire to eat
|not eating enough
|delicious food, I thought it was good
|to be sleepless
|pooled water, much water
Métraux (1951) Métraux (1951)'s wordlist, copied from Rodriguez, is reproduced below, with both original French glosses and translated English glosses. Corresponding words are also given in Taruma from Serke (2022).
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! French gloss (original) !! English gloss (translated) !! Kariri of Mirandela !!Taruma |- | tête || head || quitipati |ada |- | cheveux || hair || idiqui-quetipati |aduko |- | cils || eyelashes || panadô
| oreille || ear || erintucá |asukidjo |- | dent || tooth || ericofomuqui, uiça (?)
| langue || tongue || buniqui |ninoba |- | lèvre || lip || biquiri |asuo, asuoba |- | épaule || shoulder || pufixié |parawa |- | bras || arm || bunififufa |akwa |- | main || hand || quifi |ahõ |- | doigt || finger || comodoi |gwiri 'fingernail' |- | ventre || belly || mudô |awicha |- | fesses || buttocks || coquibi |djisu |- | cuisses || thighs || botiti |akwacha 'hip, thigh' |- | genou || knee || cofi |orokoda |- | tibia || tibia || cocudú
| mollet || calf || ila
| chevilles || ankles || popu
| plante du pied || sole || bebaá
| orteil || toe || ticá
| soleil || sun || bozofoxi |wã |- | lune || moon || boa |biwa |- | pluie || rain || ifó |hoza |- | éclair || lightning || irirumaré
| croix-du-sud || Southern Cross || quipapoqui
| étoile || star || detiquimen |hwira |- | feu || fire || quééfurtitiu |fwa |- | forêt || forest || sequieifi |nokoda |- | cerf || deer || prucô |hichika |- | pécari || peccary || faú |ba'i 'collared peccary' |- | nandou || rhea || bruan
| cutia || agouti || foifro |hoki |- | coati || coati || bizaui |kasu |- | tamanoir || anteater || bizaui |kio |- | lapin || rabbit || miriú
| serpent || snake || anguiú |bahõ |- | tatou || armadillo || bozucú |kabayo |- | renard || fox || jacá |koki |- | caméléon || chameleon || granharó
| jaguar || jaguar || boiocozzoboingiado |danu |- | chèvre || goat || pobifi
| chien || dog || gazzorú |hi |- | poule || chicken || apucá |akara |- | plantation || plantation || dotitoti
| maïs || maize || paifiquinioré |choka 'corn' |- | haricot || bean || buzufuxi
| courge || squash || croionho
| manioc || cassava || micu |nito |- | tapioca || tapioca || quenêoé
| beiju || beiju || beniti
| tabac || tobacco || bozê, labora |soma (from Wapishana ) |- | belle personne || beautiful person || dixi
| personne laide || ugly person || boxé
| personne mariée || married person || fofi
| célibataire || celibate person || coni
| vieillard || old person || chibó
| mauvais blanc || mild white || carai-box |hogiku 'white' |- | bon blanc || bright white || carai-fizou |hogiku 'white' |- | métis || mixed || carai-naré |kiribi 'mix' |- | rouge || red || urango-cozzo |hishiku |- | noir || black || arango-naré |dukwu |- | vrai noir || deep black || urango-taré
References
Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: KIRIRI.