The number of proposed etymologies for the term , the demonym for those born in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is large, with some being morphologically defensible, while others are not. Carioca is a stream in Rio de Janeiro and the name of an ancient village in the city, mentioned in at least two 16th-century primary sources, Jean de Léry and Joseph of Anchieta. According to , the explanation of the name in Léry's work refutes the etymologies proposed by the majority of etymologists, while its occurrence in Anchieta puts an end to any ambiguity. Both Edelweiss and Eduardo de Almeida Navarro agree on the meaning of the Old Tupi word : , referring to Guarani-speaking Indians scattered from the coast of Brazil to Paraguay. Over time, the name of the village also came to refer to those born in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

The interpretation of the name as was first proposed by Varnhagen and, according to Edelweiss, its inadmissibility reveals he "understands little or nothing" of Tupi.

Background

Carioca is a stream in Rio de Janeiro and the name of an ancient Indigenous village in Guanabara Bay, the one closest to the village of São Sebastião, founded by Estácio de Sá. The first record of the name Carioca in Portuguese occurs in the 1560s, by , as a toponym: "". Still during the colonial period of Brazil, the name came to designate those born in Rio de Janeiro; Eduardo de Almeida Navarro provides a 1789 citation: "", contained in a letter denouncing Tiradentes. The designation is not derogatory today. According to , the designation Carioca was current in 1563, the name having been applied to a "stream", "spring", and "water" (water from the "carioca"). According to the Houaiss Dictionary of the Portuguese Language, the toponym, initially Carioca, later became "", a place where there was a water source for supplying water to the public and to vessels, and from there eventually came to refer to the inhabitants of the city of Rio de Janeiro, who were nicknamed Cariocas "from 1723 onward".

Etymology

means . It derives from Old Tupi, being composed of the words and , and is nowadays written as or . argues the name originally referred to a dwelling of a Carijó or of Carijó Indians, which was transformed over time into a village; the stream eventually took its name from the village. The word comes from Proto-Tupi–Guarani term (also reconstructed as and ), ultimately from Proto-Tupi term (also ); the final is a suffix of nominalization.

The Carijós were Guarani-speaking Indians who were, according to Joseph of Anchieta, scattered "everywhere". According to , there were "an infinity of them", and they ranged "along the seacoast" of São Vicente "and inland as far as Paraguay". In a scene from Anchieta's Play of Saint Lawrence, two words in Guarani occur, to which the other character reacts by asking in Spanish: "".

Occurrences in primary sources There are at least two occurrences in primary sources that help clarify the etymology of the word. In Jean de Léry, there is an explanation that, according to Frederico Edelweiss, irrefutably disproves "the majority of our etymologists", while in Joseph of Anchieta, the form in which the term appears, according to Eduardo Navarro, makes its etymology "clear".

In Jean de Léry

Jean de Léry preserved in chapter 20 of his book the names of the principal villages in Guanabara Bay, from two distinct but closely spaced periods. According to information in the preceding chapter, the Tupi colloquy transcribed in chapter 20 was composed with the assistance of a French interpreter, who was well educated, as he knew Greek, and who had lived for seven to eight years among the Tupinambá and had a good knowledge of their language. The interpreter was a native of Rouen (Léry, of Lamargelle), according to his own statement to the hypothetical Tupinambá in the dialogue. The oldest toponyms are attributed to the interpreter: eight villages on the left side, five on the right side, and six farther inland. After the colloquy, Léry, for reasons little explained, made a new, updated list of the villages of Guanabara, in order to reinforce the credibility of his "adventure", enumerating 22 villages: 14 on the left side, of which only two appear in the earlier list; three on the right side, of which two appear in the earlier account; and three on Governador Island, out of a total of five, none of which appear in the older list.

The name of the Indigenous village of Carioca appears three times in Léry's book: twice in isolation and once combined with the locative preposition : , , and . According to Frederico Edelweiss, in the first two occurrences, letters were transposed, with an appearing in place of . Edelweiss argues this was the result of a copying error and careless proofreading, compounded by lapses in Léry's memory. For him, after the 20-year interval between Léry's return and the printing of his work, it is not impossible he had difficulty deciphering his own handwriting. Following one of the occurrences, the book provides an explanation:

The combination of and would yield or , but not . According to Edelweiss, the graphic divergences and the conflict between them resulted from a combination of a lack of understanding of what had been recorded and carelessness in proofreading, which can be explained by Léry's religious fanaticism.

In Joseph of Anchieta

There is another list of villages in Guanabara Bay, although partial, as it enumerates only those that disappeared following the victory of the Portuguese and their Tupi allies, which caused several Tupinambá to migrate inland and northward. Found in Joseph of Anchieta's Play of Saint Lawrence, in the stanza comprising verses 147 to 151, nine villages are enumerated; among them, verse 150 mentions Carioca in a more accurate spelling which, according to Frederico Edelweiss, "puts an end once and for all to any equivocation", and which, according to Eduardo de Almeida Navarro et al., makes the etymology "clear": .

Maria de Lourdes de Paula Martins connects with Carioca, stating it was a name designating the stretch, in Rio de Janeiro, from Botafogo Beach to Catete, derived from a stream that existed there. She translates it literally as or .

Other interpretations The number of etymologies proposed for Carioca is large. For Frederico Edelweiss, the explanation in Jean de Léry irrefutably disproves "the majority of our etymologists". According to him, interpretations of the etymology as , , and are morphologically defensible, whereas those as and find no linguistic support, despite the qualifications of those who initially proposed them. He nevertheless emphasizes the true etymology of the word is .

'White man house' The interpretation of Carioca as was first proposed by Varnhagen. It was later adopted by numerous followers of his, such as Antenor Nascentes.

Eduardo de Almeida Navarro et al. consider this etymology incorrect. According to Frederico Edelweiss, it is inadmissible, and anyone who interprets the name this way "understands little or nothing" of Tupi. in Old Tupi is ; only in Língua Geral did the form emerge, from around 1700 onward, eventually becoming in Nheengatu. Since Carioca is a 16th-century name, could only have been , which, when compounded with , would necessarily give rise to , a term "fortuitously" attested in the 16th-century Play of Saint Lawrence, written by Joseph of Anchieta.

See also Etymology of Curitiba

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