Where does “maatupaija” come from?

maatupaija (Finnish) comes from Finnish tupaija, from taxonomic name Tupaia, from Malay tupai, from Quechua tupay — meeting, encounter; fight, conflict; sparring.

maatupaija (Finnish): large tree shrew, Tupaia tana

Definitions

  1. large tree shrew, Tupaia tana

Ancestry of “maatupaija”, step by step

maatupaija traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Finnish tupaija

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Finnishtupaijatree shrew
2taxonomic nameTupaia—
3Malaytupaisquirrel; tree shrew
4Quechuatupaymeeting, encounter; fight, conflict; sparring

via Finnish mää

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Finnishmääbaa; I
2Finnish-inen-like, -ous, -y; -en; Creates adjectives from...
3Finnish-uusForms nouns from adjectives, expressing a quality
4Proto-Finnic-uc-ness, -hood
Every word from Quechua tupay →Every word from Malay tupai →Every word from taxonomic name Tupaia →