Decoding the Surname By Prajal Sakhardande
Goan surnames have a deep-rooted history. Following conversions, the Hindus and Muslims of Goa acquired new Portuguese surnames. Many of the Christian families in Goa have traced their original Hindu surnames. Many have shown keen interest in finding their roots in their Hindu ancestry. It is very interesting. For example, my colleague and teacher Dr Zinia Sequeira Lobo D’Silva has traced her original Hindu surname to Kamat. In the year 1596, the Dangui family of Banavlim or Benaulim village of the Salcette taluka were converted to Christianity and were given a new surname - Pereira. Mention is made of the son of Mhallu Dangui who was converted to Antonio Pereira. A senior friend of mine from Benaulim goes by the same name and traces his Hindu ancestry to the surname Dangui. Some Portuguese surnames of Goans have very interesting etymologies for example the surname Coelho means a rabbit in Portuguese. The surname Pimenta is pepper (chilly), Pinheiro is pine tree in Portuguese and Pinho is pine. The very popular Portuguese Goan surname Pinto means chick while Oliveira means olive tree. In Portuguese the surname Alemao means German. Costa simply means Coast. The surname Lobo means a wolf in Portuguese, Leitao means suckling pigling, Caldeira means boiler, the surname Carvalho means an Oak tree. Velho stands for old man or old woman. Sardinha stands for Sardine. The surname Rocha means a rock. Topography, flora and fauna seem to be reflected in these surnames. In Goa too we have surnames depicting nature, for example we have surnames like Ambe (mango), Sakhardande (sugarcane), Kande (onions), Bhende (ladyfingers) amongst others. Coming back to the Portuguese Goan surnames, Mesquita means a mosque. This surname might have etymological roots in the Arab connection with the Iberian Peninsula of which Spain and Portugal are a part. For example in Konkani we address the Muslims as “Moir†corrupted version of the word “Moor†which stands for Arabs as the Portuguese addressed them. We adopted this word in Konkani for the Goan Muslims. Due to the Arab rule over Portugal, Arabic words such as Kameez for a shirt was adopted and corrupted to Khomis in Portuguese which was also introduced in Konkani is one side of the story of linguistic exchange. These are very interesting historical linguistic exchanges whose etymological roots are deeply rooted in the political and socio-cultural heritage of the nations and peoples. Thus the travel or journey of a simple Arabic word Kameez or the Portuguese word Camisa which means shirt might have had the more plausible vice-versa exchange as the Arabs never wore a shirt which the Portuguese wore and when the Arabs conquered the Iberian peninsula and ruled Spain and Portugal they borrowed this word Camisa from the Portuguese and adopted it for their famous dress Salwar Kameez. Thus we find that etymology is the key to history. In the coming weeks let us dig deep into the history of Goan surnames, linguistic exchanges and cultural inheritance. Source: NT [EMAIL PROTECTED] for Goa & NRI related info... http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/GOAN-NRI/ For Goan Video Clips http://youtube.com/joeukgoa __________________________________________________________ Not happy with your email address?. Get the one you really want - millions of new email addresses available now at Yahoo! http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/ymail/new.html
