Etymology of Curitiba

Aryon Rodrigues, in an academic article, argues that it ultimately derives from Old Guarani, albeit exhibiting significant influences from the General Language spoken by mestiços originating from São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

The primitive nucleus of the city of Curitiba was called Nossa Senhora da Luz e Bom Jesus dos Pinhais.

[2] From 1720 to 1853, it was possible to write the name of Curitiba in various ways, such as Curiytyba, Curiytuba, Curituba, Coretyba, Coreytyba, Corityba, and Curetyba.

That year, the Municipal Chamber of Curitiba, through 25 July Resolution 7, officially defined the spelling as Curityba.

[3] A significant portion of the territory of the Brazilian state of Paraná was inhabited by indigenous people who spoke the Old Guarani language.

The Peruvian priest Antonio Ruiz de Montoya documented in his works the word "curiĭ" (pine tree), providing the compound name "curiĭbaỹî", among others.

Montoya, exemplifying its use in Old Guarani, where the form of this root was tyb, provides the terms "abatitĭ" (lit.

When appropriated by Portuguese speakers, indigenous words lost the glottal stop, and the y was sometimes replaced by i, sometimes by u. Aryon Rodrigues suggests, then, kuri'ytyba would have become kuriitiba and, with the contraction of the two i's, kuritiba.

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius attributed it to the Tupi language, but he gave this term a broad sense,[c] so his hypothesis does not contradict that of Saint-Hilaire.

[26] Therefore, the pronunciation Curitiba reveals accents of individuals hailing from distant regions, such as São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

[1][b] Romário Martins [pt] reported the indigenous leader Arakxó, chief of the Kaingang people, attributed the name Curitiba to the phrase "curi-tim", which literally means "hurry, let's go!".