Capoeira's origins are not clear. It is a combination of African and Brazilian martial arts, but camps are generally divided between those who believe it is a direct descendant of African fighting styles and those who believe it is a uniquely Brazilian dance form distilled from various African and Brazilian influences.
Even the etymology of "Capoeira" is debated. The Portuguese word capão means "capon," or a castrated rooster, and could mean that the style appears similar to two roosters fighting. Kongo scholar K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau also suggested "capoeira" could be derived from the Kikongo word kipura, which describes a rooster's movements in a fight Afro-Brazilian scholar Carlos Eugenio has suggested that the sport took its name from a large round basket called a "capa" commonly worn on the head by urban slaves. Others claim the term derives from the Tupi-Guarani words kaá (leaf, plant) and puéra (past aspect marker), meaning "formerly a forest."
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