Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
The word "cougar" is borrowed from the Portuguese "çuçuarana", via French; it was originally derived from the Tupi language. A current form in Brazil is "suçuarana". In the 17th century, Georg Marcgrave named it "cuguacu ara". Marcgrave's rendering was reproduced in 1648 by his associate Willem Piso. "Cuguacu ara" was then adopted by John Ray in 1693. In 1774, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon converted "cuguacu ara" to "cuguar", which was later modified to "cougar" in English.