Chuy

Chuy (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃwi]) is a city in the extreme east of Uruguay, in the Rocha Department, 340 kilometres (211 mi) northeast of Montevideo. It lies on the border with Brazil, separated from its Brazilian sister town of Chui only by a shared avenue that serves as the border, and by the Arroyo Chuy (stream) to the east. Chuy's population is currently 9,675 residents as of 2011.

Etymology

The word "Chuy", according to most scholars, comes from the Tupi–Guarani language. The Indians had designated the small brook on whose banks the town would emerge with the same name. According to Daniel Granada, "Chui" was also the name the Indians gave a yellow-breasted bird, native and common in the marshes of the area. According to Tancredo Blotta, chuy is a compound word which should be translated as "river of brown water".

The Brazilian historian Péricles Azambuja alludes to a rumor that the word (originally Chyu) would have been brought by former tribes who migrated from the Andes. A Quechua word, achuy had the meaning of "teaching" through storytelling, thus chuy'o would be "master " or "narrator." In a different context, chuy can be seen to mean a small frog or toad in the water, a small turtle or small horse. Advocates of some of these theories base their beliefs on the fact that the stream, and watercourse, is insignificant compared to others in the area.