História e cultura do centro-oeste mineiro retratados na antropotoponímia da cidade de Bom Despacho

Abstract

The process of giving a name to a place goes far beyond its brand in the language, it loads the historical, social, geographical, cultural, economic, and political knowledge of a region and a community. The toponomy, defined as the study of the names of places, is not restricted to linguistic aspects, but considers its historic origins; it also considers that to give a title to a place is a political process that deserves an approach beyond the name assigned to a location. This work has as its object of study the urban anthropotoponyms of Bom Despacho, a town located in central-west of Minas Gerais. An integral part of the Atlas Toponímico de Minas Gerais - ATEMIG, this study followed the main theoretical-methodological aspects proposed by DICK and SEABRA for the onomastics research that we proposed to do. The research had as its main objective to perform a linguistic analysis, emphasizing the research of anthropotoponyms designations of places (streets, avenues, alleys and squares) within the city limits of Bom Despacho, through the cataloguing and recognition of these names. The corpus, result of documentary research and fieldwork, is composed of 398 anthropotoponyms used for naming places. It was used for data collection: laws, maps, phone books, the Google Maps tool, visitation of places and interviews with local residents. The names, after their existence being verified, were cataloged and classified through a lexicographical table, organized specifically for this study. Information were broken down in the table on the type of accident (place), location (neighborhood), taxionomy, the places method of identification and the honorees characteristics. Data analysis reflects the historical, cultural and economic contexts of Bom Despacho, which indicated that it is a traditional and conservative community. Through public places names, it was possible to draw the community studied profile, which presented itself as patriarchal, valuing individuals with high social status and public or religious figures, as well as other elements. We note that the toponymic motivation of Bom Despacho society is linked to influential people such as the military, political, medical and religious personalities. These data corroborate the importance of the urban topography study as an instrument that rescue a peoples memory perpetuated through the names of streets.