It is interesting and sometimes very amusing to go through the names and surnames of persons and names of places or institutions, etc.
Goan names from ancient times seem to have originated from the names of Gods or Goddesses of Hindu pantheon and surnames according to the caste systems prevailing at the time as well as from the Ganvkari system of each village as Shirodkars, Panvelkars, Salgaonkars, etc, also according to professions as Kansar [blacksmith], Tarkar [the canoeist who was ferrying people from one side of the river to another], Chamar [cobbler], etc. Some years after Portuguese arrived in Goa, they changed the surnames of Goans as Kamat into Camotim, Parab into Porobo, Vagh to Vaga, etc. Dessais, Sardessais, Kulkarnis, Sinais and Nadkarnis, are names attached to some professions such as collecting taxes and clerical work.
Those who were baptised as Christians after giving up their earlier names and surnames received their names from the Saints and Mary and her invocations under various names from the Roman calendar and their surnames from the so called ‘Pai dos Cristaos’ meaning ‘Father of Christians’, who was a prominent Portuguese fidalgo, who became the godfather of all the baptised on a particular day and who defrayed all the expenses of the solemnity of baptism including the church service, music band, pandal and a sumptuous lunch.
If the Father of the Christians of the day was an Azavedo, all baptized on that day bore the surname of Azavedos likewise Pereiras, Siqueiras, Menezes, etc.
When Goans, mostly from Bardez, migrated to the Ghats in contact with the local population, they suffered corruption in their names and surnames. Some typical examples are given here: Antonio became Antu, Moises Vincent Xavier became Moses Insentshaver, Lourdino Luis DeMello became Ladru Luyis Dabel, Domingos Xavier Serrao became Duming Shaver Sharav. Those who travelled to Mangalore underwent a process of transformation in their surnames as Coutinho into Coutina, Crasto became Crasta, Souto Mayor into Santumayor.
In Goa, all our villages were agricultural villages, but there are some villages which show specifically their agricultural character by their names such as Kundaim, Kuncoliem in Ponda, Kuncolim [Cuncolim] in Salcete, Kunchelim [Cunchelim] in Bardez.
There were other villages which showed their connection with a specific animal as Vagh [tiger] as Vagator, Vagheri and Vagurme.
Similarly, the names of places were transformed as Patradevi which was named by the Portuguese- Fatordev. The advisors to the Portuguese perhaps failed to advise them correctly on the difference of dev and devi.
After Goa’s Liberation, the names of certain places underwent corruption notably among them are: Mapusa became Mapsa, Carrasco vaddo became Karaswada and Panjim became Panaji. Within Panjim there are several Portuguese names as Fontainhas which means small fountains, Corte de Oiteiro [the hill was cut to make a road to Fontainhas] is now known as Cortint, Boca da Vaca which means cow’s mouth, etc.
Horse trade was a very lucrative trade in those times. Arabian horses were brought through the river Chapora to a place called Arabo. Perhaps the Dessai of Arabo kept the record of the number of horses and collected tax on them. From Arabo they were taken by land to Ibrampur in Tormas [Pernem]. Ibrampur became a transit point of Arab horses to Maharashtra to serve the Maratha army.
There are some ward names in our villages such as Firguem Bhatt [in Navelim, Nerul, Guirim etc]. In Karnataka there is a place called Farangi Phet, a place mostly inhabited formally by farangis or firangues [foreigners].
The islands in Goa are called zunve. There are several islands around the main island of Tiswadi such as Chorao, Divar, Vanxim, Akadda, Jua and Cumbarjua. I am hailing from Jua. When all the islands are called Zunve in Konkani, how is it that only our island got its name as Jua? The only plausible explanation is that the island of Jua which formerly was a small island surrounded by six other isles, was reclaimed by our forefathers by bunding the waters and transforming it into a bigger island retaining its original name as Jua.
Panchayat and municipal secretaries dealing with registration of births, deaths not familiar with Goan names, have committed blunders with regard to Goan names and in the process of correction, people have to shell out a sizable amount of money for the mistakes committed by government servants who are exempted from any punishment.
By the 1970s, many Christian parents instead of giving their children the names of saints at baptism adopted foreign names for boys as Jolison, Ronan, Clapton and gave their girls also names like Swizel, Adora, Fedora without even going into the real meaning of these names.
Now let us go into a small joke of a particular name. About four years back, we in Goa, faced the problem of Formalin-laced fish. Suddenly, Formalin became famous and everybody in Goa was speaking day and night about Formalin, which came to be associated with other names like Idalin, Magdelin, Santelin, etc, and looks like Formalin is still ruling the roost in the fish markets.
There is a more serious issue and this is where authorities have shown their ignorance.
The Archaeological Survey of India [ASI] Old Goa, while recording a name of a particular church has committed a mistake. Among the 11 archaeological monuments which are seen in the list of ASI protected monuments in Old Goa, one has got its names improperly recorded. Under Number 4. N- GA-7- it reads - Chapel of St Cajetan, Old Goa, instead of Church of St Cajetan. There is a big difference between a Chapel and a Church. Therefore, it should stand in its proper name as the Church of St Cajetan. The same monument stands also asa UNESCO protected monument. Nobody has so far bothered to correct the misrepresentation of its name. The process may involve some time but it must be done.
Names are sacred therefore; all care should be taken to record correctly the names of persons and places.
(The author is a well–known columnist and author of the book ‘Goan Village Communities’)