Portuguese-based creole languages meaning "in" and/or "on", which would come from the Portuguese contraction "na" meaning "in the" (feminine singular). The Portuguese word for "creole" is "crioulo", which derives from the verb "criar" ("to raise", "to bring up") and a suffix "-oulo" of debated origin. Originally the word was used to distinguish the members of any ethnic group who were born and raised in the colonies from those who were born in their homeland. In Africa it was often applied to locally born people of (wholly or partly) Portuguese descent, as opposed to those born in Portugal; whereas in Brazil it was also
Etymology of Kainuu land surrounding the northern coasts Bothnian Gulf. Linguistically this etymology is seen as more acceptable. The area originally known as Kainuu seems to have been the central part of Ostrobothnia where Karelians could access the Gulf of Bothnia in the Middle Ages, giving also conceptual support for the theory. Noteworthy in this context is also the word "kainu", which is only known in lower Satakunta in Finland. It had a completely different meaning being the middle stake in a work sled, also clearly deriving from *gain-. Like the theory one, Koivulehto believes the words "kainu" and Kven to be interconnected.