Names of Buenos Aires

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The name of the city of Buenos Aires (pronounced [ˈbwe.nɔs ˈaj.ɾɛs]), the capital of Argentina, means "Good Air" or "Fair Winds" in Spanish. There are other places, mostly in the Americas, that go by the same name.

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[edit] Sardinian origin

When the Aragonese conquered Cagliari, Sardinia from the Pisans in 1324, they established their headquarters on top of a hill that overlooked the city. The hill was known to them as Buen Ayre ("Bonaria" in the local language), as it was free of the foul smell prevalent in the old city (the Castle area).

During the siege of Cagliari, the Aragonese built a sanctuary to the Virgin Mary on the hill. In 1335, King Alfonso the Gentle donated the church to the Mercedarians, who built an abbey that stands to this day.

A miracle was soon connected to the site. The story goes that a statue of the Virgin Mary was retrieved from the sea after it miraculously helped to calm a storm in the Mediterranean Sea. Spanish sailors, especially those from Andalusia, venerated this image and frequently invoked the "Fair Winds" to aid them in navigation and to prevent shipwrecks.

In 1536, Spanish seaman Pedro de Mendoza established a fort and port in current-day San Telmo (slightly south of Buenos Aires city centre) and called it Santa María del Buen Aire ("Our Lady of the Fair Winds"). The city name was chosen by the chaplain of Mendoza's expedition, a devotee of the Bonaria Virgin.

Mendoza’s settlement soon came under attack by indigenous peoples, and in 1541 was abandoned. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who sailed down the Paraná River from Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay). Garay preserved the name chosen by Mendoza, calling the city Ciudad de la Santísima Trinidad y Puerto de Santa María del Buen Aire ("City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Fair Winds"). The short form "Buenos Aires" became the common usage during the 17th century.

[edit] Demonyms

The inhabitants of the city are called "porteños" ("people of the port") to acknowledge the centrality of the port in the development of the city and the nation.

Since the city's federalisation in 1880, Buenos Aires proper includes the former cities of Belgrano and Flores; the resulting city was separated from Buenos Aires province. The inhabitants of the province are called "bonaerenses".

Most of the population of Greater Buenos Aires lives in the suburbs, which are under the jurisdiction of the province. Depending on context, they may be called porteños, bonaerenses, or (more commonly) by the demonym of their town (e.g. quilmeño to refer to a person from Quilmes).

[edit] Formal and informal names

In the 1994 constitution, the city was given autonomy, hence its current formal name: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires).

To differentiate the city from the province of the same name, it is common to refer to the city as Capital Federal ("Federal Capital", similar to "Distrito Federal" as used for example in Mexico City). This name was used extensively in road signs, for postal addresses, and in everyday speech (shortened to Capital or even la Capi); its usage has somewhat diminished after the official 1994 name change.

The abbreviations Bs. As. and Baires are sometimes used, the first one mostly in writing and the second one in everyday speech.

The city is sometimes called la Reina del Plata ("Queen of the Plata") in a nod to its being the largest city in the Río de la Plata river basin, and to its position at the river’s estuary.

Some songs have given alternative names to Buenos Aires, such as Soda Stéreo's la ciudad de la furia ("city of fury"), or Fito Páez's ciudad de pobres corazones ("city of poor hearts"). The oft-used expression mi Buenos Aires querido ("my beloved Buenos Aires") is the name of a tango song movie popularized by Carlos Gardel and the eponymous movie.

Because of its European influence, the city is sometimes referred to as "The Paris of the South".

Sometimes, the importance of Buenos Aires casts a shadow over the rest of the country; this prompted writer Ezequiel Martínez Estrada to call the city la cabeza de Goliat ("Goliath's head").

[edit] External links