List of Guarani toponyms
This list contains the toponyms (place names) in Guarani, a South American aboriginal language spoken in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia.
Argentina
- Carcarañá: "devil caracara".
- Chajarí: "river of the chajá".[1]
- Curuzú Cuatiá: "engraved cross".
- Garupá: "land of canoes".[2]
- Gualeguaychú: "river of the big tiger" and other meanings, no consensus reached.[3]
- Ibicuy: "powdered earth".
- Iguazú: "big water".[4]
- Itatí: "stone tip", or "stone nose".[5][6]
- Ituzaingó: "hanging waterfall".[7]
- Mburucuyá: "Passiflora".
- Oberá: named after a Guarani chieftain.
- Paraná River: "Copious River"[8]
- Villaguay: "snake cave river".[9]
- Yapeyú: "ripe fruit", or "the place where wind blows".
- Yuquerí: plant species similar to blackberries.
Bolivia
- Guayaramerín: "small waterfall".
- Saipurú: "bubbling water".[10]
Brazil
- Camaquã: "black cave" or "nipple hole".[11]
- Iguaçu: "big water".[4]
- Itaipu: "sounding stone".[12]
- Itaqui: "stony sand".
- Jacuí: "water pheasant".[11]
- Jaguarão: "water jaguar".[11]
- Mirim Lagoon: "small water".
- Quaraí: "water coming out of a well".[11]
- Vacacaí: a composed term, Spanish vaca ("cow") and Guarani ca-á y ("burnt grasses").[11]
Paraguay
- Caacupé: "behind the mount".
- Caaguazú: "lush forest", or "big yerba mate".
- Caazapá: "the place] after the forest"
- Humaitá: "ancient stone".
- Itá: "stone".
- Itapúa: "tip of the stone".
- Itauguá: "place with black stones".
- Mbaracayú: "divine rattle".[13]
- Paraguay: many theories, one of them is "feather crown of waters".[14]
- Ypacaraí: "blessed lake".
Uruguay
The name of the Uruguay River deserves a special chapter, because there are several theses. Among the most accepted: "river of the snails", due to the uruguá (Pomella megastoma) that was plentiful across its shores.[15] Another interpretation is "bird-river" ("the river of the uru", via Charruan, urú being a common noun for any wild fowl).[16][17]
- Aceguá: "place of eternal rest".[18][11]
- Aiguá: "running water".
- Arapey: "river with thorny trees", or "river full of canoes".[19]
- Arequita: "water falling from the high rock over the caves".[20]
- Batoví: "breast of a virgin".[21]
- Caraguatá: a local plant (Eryngium pandanifolium and other related species).[11]
- Casupá: "end of the big forest".[11]
- Chapicuy: "fallen dew".[11]
- Chuy: "brown water river".[22]
- Cuareim: "water coming from a well".[11]
- Cuaró: "bitter source".[11]
- Daymán: "ancient stone".[11]
- Iporá: "nice water".[23]
- Itapebí: "fallen stones".[11]
- Guazuvirá: "gray brocket".[11]
- Kiyú: "cricket".[24]
- Merín Lagoon: "small water".[11]
- Paysandú: "wise priest".[11]
- Pirarajá: "fish net".[11]
- Queguay: "creek of the combs".[11]
- Tacuarembó: "river of the tacuaras" (a local species of Guadua).
- Tacuarí: a sort of mate-like plant.
- Tupambaé: "divine object".[11]
- Yaguarón: "water jaguar".[11]
- Yí: "mighty river".[25]
References
- ^ Diario Uno. Chajarí festeja hoy sus 139 años
- ^ "12 de junio – Fundación de Garupá". Tribunal Electoral de la Provincia de Misiones (in Spanish). 10 June 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
- ^ "Y a vos, ¿por qué te pusieron ese nombre? Este mes: Gualeguaychú | sidecreer.com.ar". www.sidecreer.com.ar (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
- ^ a b "Iguazú y la tierra del agua grande". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 2018-05-04. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
- ^ Juan Carlos Raffo (9 March 2024). "La fundación de Itatí". El Litoral (in Spanish).
- ^ "Itatí". Dirección de Relaciones Internacionales - Ministerio de Coordinación y Planificación - Gobierno de Corrientes (in Spanish).
- ^ "Más datos históricos". Municipalidad de Ituzaingó (in Spanish).
- ^ Places to visit in Paraguay when visiting Iguassu Falls Archived 12 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Villaguay en el tiempo (in Spanish)
- ^ Szabó, Henriette Eva (May 2008). Diccionario de la antropología boliviana (in Spanish) (1ra ed.). Bolivia: Je Maintiendrai. p. 662. ISBN 978-99954-0-304-1. Archived from the original on 9 November 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Guarinismos en la Banda Oriental". espacio latino (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 August 2025.
- ^ "Energy". Itaipu Binacional. 2014. Archived from the original on 12 April 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
- ^ Cadogan, León (2007). Mil apellidos guaraníes: aporte para el estudio de la onomástica paraguaya. Asunción: Tiempo de Historia. p. 65. ISBN 978-99953-816-0-8. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
- ^ Antonio Ruiz de Montoya (1876), "Paraguá", Vocabulario y tesoro de la lengua Guarani (ó mas bien Tupi), vol. 2, p. 263
- ^ "Presentan tesis del nombre Uruguay" [Thesis on the name Uruguay presented]. El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ^ Revista Del Río de La Plata. 1971. p. 285. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
The word itself, 'Uruguay', is clearly derived from the Guaraní, probably by way of the tribal dialect of the Charrúas [...] from uru (a generic designation of wild fowl)
- ^ Nordenskiöld, Erland (1979). Deductions suggested by the geographical distribution of some post-Columbian words used by the Indians of S. America. AMS Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-404-15145-4. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
In Paraguay the Guaraní Indians call a fowl uruguaçú. The Cainguá in Misiones only say urú. [...] A few Guaraní-speakiug Indians who call a hen uruguasu and a cock tacareo. Uruguaçu means "the big uru".
- ^ Ministerio de Desarrollo Social (25 June 2009). "Diagnóstico realizado por la mesa local de frontera de Aceguá en marco del 6º Seminario de Frontera". Retrieved 5 May 2012.
- ^ Araújo, Orestes (1900). Diccionario geográfico del Uruguay. Montevideo. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Sequeira, Alejandro; Casaubou, Cristina; Olveira, Armando (July 2010). "Arequita" (PDF). Áreas protegidas del Uruguay. 2. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- ^ "Cerro Batoví - Cuchilla de Haedo". Enciclopedia Geográfica del Uruguay. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
- ^ Dornel, J. "El topónimo "Chuy"". Informe Uruguay. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
- ^ Diccionario Guaraní (in Spanish)
- ^ "Kiyú, el balneario que alberga una historia escondida en sus barrancas". El Espectador (in Spanish). 22 January 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
- ^ "Río Yi" (in Spanish). MVOTMA. Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.