Page:Artificial Indigenous Place Names in Brazil.pdf/9



5.2. Toponyms representing the categories defined above

We will analyze below the paradigmatic place names of each of the categories described above. The etymologies presented are based on information from the Diccionario Portuguez e Brasiliano (ANONYMOUS, 1795), Vocabulário Português-Nheengatu, Nheengatu-Português (Stradelli, 2014) and the Dicionário de Tupi Antigo (Old Tupi Dictionary) (NAVARRO, 2019).

5.2.1. Suitable place names: examples of some modalities

5.2.1.1 Calque, free translation or periphrasis of a pre-existing name in Portuguese

Aiquara (State of Bahia) and Abaiara (State of Ceará) – A very common kind of artificial toponym in Brazil is that by replacing a Portuguese origin name with its corresponding translation in ancient Tupi, sometimes quite literal, sometimes less, and sometimes consisting of a periphrasis. This is what happened with the municipality of Aiquara (de a'y + kûara,”den of sloths”). In fact, until 1915, this locality was called Preguiça (Sloth), the name of a mammal of the Bradipodidae family, found in the tropical and equatorial rainforests of America. According to IBGE, the name was chosen through a plebiscite in 1924. It is a correct composition in ancient Tupi and, of course, is adapted to the phonology of Portuguese.

Another name in this category is that of the municipality of Abaiara in Ceará. It was first called São Pedro (St. Peter), by the provincial act of 1837, as a district of the municipality of Milagres. In 1938, the district of São Pedro was renamed Pedro Segundo (Peter Second), in honor of the former emperor of Brazil. The name was again changed by state law in 1943. A periphrasis of Pedro Segundo was created, namely, Abaiara, that is, the lord of men.

Paratinga (State of Bahia) – Sometimes a name of indigenous origin constitutes a calque of a name in Portuguese that replaced another toponym of indigenous origin considered derogatory. An example of a name of indigenous origin of this nature was Xiririca, on the Ribeira Valley, in São Paulo. In fact, the name Xiririca, certainly from the Paulista General Language, became synonymous with a remote place, difficult to access, primitive, and sparsely inhabited. It was common in the first decades of the 20th century the expression "That place is beyond Xiririca". In the year 1948, that name was then changed. This was also the case of a municipality in Bahia called Urubu (Vulture), a name that was changed in 1912 by a bill, and then became known as Rio Branco (White River). In 1943, by another state decree, this place name was DOI logo.svg http://dx.doi.org/10.35572/rlr.v9i2.1700 260