The name Brazil is a shortened form of Terra do Brasil ("Land of Brazil"), a reference to the brazilwood tree. The name was given in the early 16th century to the territories leased to the merchant consortium led by Fernão de Loronha, to exploit brazilwood for the production of wood dyes for the European textile industry.
The term for the brazilwood tree in Portuguese, pau-brasil, is formed by pau ("wood") and brasa ("ember"), the latter referring to the vivid red dye that can be extracted from the tree. The word brasa is formed from Old French brese ("ember, glowing charcoal").[1]
- ^ CNRTL - Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales (in French) Michaelis - Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese) iDicionário Aulete Archived 2012-02-29 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)