A crônica de um povo : a toponímia na cidade de Cotiporã

Abstract

This paper analyses the motivation and classification of the names of the neighborhood, the district and the streets of the city of Cotiporã, located in a region of Italian colonization in the Northeast of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Its intent is to comprehend the historical, political and social context of that region. The corpus of this research is composed of forty-five designations collected from official sources in the city of Veranópolis, and later in Cotiporã. The records of forty-three designations are found in twelve laws that followed the development of the city. Two designations are not connected to any laws but are considered common areas on the day-to-day of its citizens. The toponyms and hodotoponyms are classified according to the taxionomy proposed by Dick (1990b). The research revealed that the majority of the hodonyms refers to the first names of Italian immigrants or their descendants (antropohodonyms), which contributes to the perception of the local Italian identity. Historical figures and dates are also referenced (historiohodonyms), as well as professional titles, military and political ranking (axiohodonyms), religious roles (hagiohodonyms), hydrographic incidents (hydrohodonyms), vegetation (litotoponyms) and geographic location (cardinotoponyms). The results show how the habitants of Cotiporã build their regional identity and differentiate themselves from other groups, reinforcing their identity through the predominance of Italian designations.