Page:Artificial Indigenous Place Names in Brazil.pdf/12



Itaporanga (State of Paraíba) – It is a correct composition in old Tupi: itá - stone + porang - beautiful + -a - nominating suffix: beautiful stone. The name, however, was attributed by a 1938 state law to a place traditionally inhabited by Indians of the Corema group, from the Macro-Jê trunk, already extinct.

5.2.2.2. Linguistically inappropriate toponyms

Ibateguara (State of Alagoas) – Until 1959, the municipality of Ibateguara was called Horizon. It is said that the current toponym was suggested by the Archbishop of Maceió, D. Ranulfo de Farias, who wanted to create a name of Tupi origin meaning "high place." The name Ibateguara, however, appears to derive from the junction of the Tupi noun ybaté (heights) with the suffix -ygûara (he who inhabits) (which forms gentilic nouns such as paraibyguara, inhabitant of Paraíba). Ybateygûara thus means “the inhabitants of heights”. That place name is thus badly formed, being semantically inadequate and having a different meaning from that it was sought, although it has a legitimate Tupi appearance.

Ecoporanga (State of Espírito Santo) – This toponym carries lexemes of ancient Tupi, lacking, however, the relation prefix T- to be a correct name in that language. Therefore it should be written Tecoporanga. That locality in the state of Espírito Santo received such a name when it was elevated, by state law, to the category of municipality in 1955.

Buritama (State of São Paulo) – It is an incorrect variant of buriti retama, land of buritis (name of a palm tree, Mauritia flexuosa), violating grammatical composition rules of ancient Tupi. That name was created in 1948, when the district of Palmeiras (palm trees), called Buriti in 1919, became a municipality.

Unaí (State of Minas Gerais) – This is a compound noun intended to mean black (una) river (‘y) by its creators; however, it violates the rules of composition of ancient Tupi and General Languages. Unaí was a district created with the denomination of Rio Preto by provincial law of 1873. By state law of 1923, the district of Rio Preto took its current name. However, in those above-mentioned indigenous languages, attributive adjectives never precede a noun. Rio Preto (black river) should thus be translated as 'yúna, resulting in Iúna, in Portuguese.

Jaguariúna (State of São Paulo) – The same thing occurred with the name of São Paulo municipality of Jaguariúna. In 1896, the district of Jaguari was created by state law and was

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