The following is an article from Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader.
A.M. Walzer Co. United States Inlay Puzzle Map (Image Credit: Marxchivist [Flickr]) The following is reprinted from Uncle John’s Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader. You know the names of all 50 states…but do you know where any of them come from? Here’s the best information we could find on the origin of each. ALABAMA. Possibly from the Creek Indian word alibamo, meaning "we stay here." ALASKA. From the Aleutian word alakshak, which means "great lands," or "land that is not an island." ARIZONA. Taken either from the pima Indian words ali shonak, meaning "little spring," or from the Aztec word arizuma, meaning "silver-bearing." ARKANSAS. The French somehow coined it from the name of the Siouan Quapaw tribe. CALIFORNIA. According to one theory, Spanish settlers names it after a utopian society described in a popular 16th-century novel called Serged de Esplandian. COLORADO. Means "red" in Spanish. The name was originally applied to the Colorado River, whose waters are reddish with canyon clay. CONNECTICUT. Taken from the Mohican word kuenihtekot, which means "long river place." DELAWARE. Named after Lord De La Warr, a governor of Virginia. Originally used only to name the Delaware River. FLORIDA. Explorer Ponce de Leon named the state Pascua Florida - "flowery Easter"—on Easter Sunday in 1513. GEORGIA. Named after King George II of England, who charted the colony in 1732. HAWAII. An English adaptation of the native word owhyhee, which means "homeland." IDAHO. Possibly taken from the Kiowa Apache word for the Comanche Indians. ILLINOIS. The French bastardization of the Algonquin word illini, which means "men." INDIANA. Named by English-speaking settlers because the territory was full of Indians. IOWA. The Sioux word for "beautiful land," or "one who puts to sleep." KANSAS. Taken from the Sioux word for "south wind people," their name for anyone who lived south of Sioux territory. KENTUCKY. Possibly derived from the Indian word kan-tuk-kee, meaning "dark and bloody ground." Or kan-tuc-kec, "land of green reeds", or ken-take, meaning "meadowland." LOUISIANA. Named after French King Louis XIV. MAINE. The Old French word for "province." MARYLAND. Named after Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of English King George I. MASSACHUSETTS. Named after the Massachusetts Indian tribe. Means "large hill place." MICHIGAN. Most likely from the Chippewa word for "great water." micigama. MINNESOTA. From the Sioux word for "sky tinted" or "muddy water." MISSISSIPPI. Most likely taken from the Chippewa words mici ("great") and zibi ("river"). MISSOURI. From the Algonquin word for "muddy water." MONTANA. Taken from the Latin word for "mountainous." NEBRASKA. From the Otos Indian word for "broad water." NEVADA. Means "snow-clad" in Spanish. NEW HAMPSHIRE. Capt. John Mason, one of the original colonists, named it after his English home county of Hampshire. NEW JERSEY. Named after the English Isle of Jersey. NEW MEXICO. The Spanish name for the territory north of the Rio Grande. NEW YORK. Named after the Duke of York and Albany. NORTH AND SOUTH CAROLINA. From the Latin name Carolus; named in honor of King Charles I of England. NORTH AND SOUTH DAKOTA. Taken from the Sioux word for "friend," or "ally." OHIO. Means "great," "fine," or "good river" in Iriquois. OKLAHOMA. The Choctaw word for "red man." OREGON. Possibly derived from Ouaricon-sint, the French name for the Wisconsin River. PENNSYLVANIA. Named after William Penn, Sr., the father of the colony's founder, William Penn. Means "Penn's woods." RHODE ISLAND. Named "Roode Eylandt" (Red Island) because of its red clay. TENNESSEE. Named after the Cherokee tanasi villages along the banks of the Little Tennessee River. TEXAS. Derived from the Caddo Indian word for "friend," or "ally." UTAH. Means "upper," or "higher," and was originally the name that Navajos called the Shoshone tribe. VERMONT. A combination of the French words vert ("green") and mont ("mountain"). VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA. Named after Queen Elizabeth I of England, the "virgin" queen, by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584. WASHINGTON. Named after George Washington. WISCONSIN. Taken from the Chippewa word for "grassy place." WYOMING. Derived from the Algonquin word for "large prairie place." | |
| The article above, titled "State Your Name," is reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader. This special edition book covers the three "lost" Bathroom Readers - Uncle John's 5th, 6th and 7th book all in one. The huge (and hugely entertaining) volume covers neat stories like the Strange Fate of the Dodo Bird, the Secrets of Mona Lisa, and more ... Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts. Check out their website here: Bathroom Reader Institute | |
Uh, no. Aztec (Nahuatl) has no 'r,' and barring that, the word is obviously not Nahuatl.
A little moderation may be needed on Comment #4.
Michigan does not mean 'great water', it is a derivative of the Anishnaabe word for 'turtle' - Michigay. This is due to 'turtle' being a synonymous word for 'land', coming from an Anishnaabe legend in which this continent was built upon the back of a turle after the great flood.
Arizona is just as basic as Colorado, Montana, and Nevada... it means 'arid zone' in Spanish.
North/South Dakota is somewhat different. Dakota is one of the three tribes generally called Sioux by whites, including also the Lakota and Nakota. A 'Dakota' CAN be a friend of a Lakota, but it isn't the word for friend.
He told people it was an indian word for "Gem of the Mountains". It wasn't. But it stuck anyway.
This makes more sense than the other explanation's of the name's origin.
discoverer) to the Isle of Rhodes - there were no Dutch in the area and certainly no red clay - for real - that's Georgia, you pokes...
Arizona is definitely not derived from "arid zone" or it's Spanish cognate, nor from nahuatl, but almost certainly from the O'odham "ali shonak"
Only someone NOT from Idaho would blatantly get that wrong.
And I agree with Some Rhode Islander - I lived in Newport for 5 years and never saw a bit of red clay.
the California name legend is not clear -- one idea is that Balboa wrote "calida fornax" (Latin for "hot furnace") -- this would have been as Balboa was traveling North on his trip up the Pacific coast and through the area of Baja California (Spanish for "Lower California"), which is indeed very hot (like as in "hot as a furnace").
The story goes on to say that in Spanish, the "calida" was bastardized to "callida" (kai-yee-duh) and "fornax" is pronounced "for-nash" -- together "kai-yee-duh-for-nash"...which sounded like "California", the mythical island inhabited solely by dark-skinned women which had been talked about in Europe at least since the late 15th century.
Of course, this was a natural link since what we now know as Baja California, Mexico was drawn as an island on early 16th century maps. Later Cortez was sent to explore/claim "California" and that is apparently documented -- whether it was beleived to be the fabled island...is not clear. Cortez made several documented missions but apparently left the settling of the land to later conquerers...who continued to call it California Alta (Upper California) and California Baja (Lower California).
Supporting material: http://wwwlib.umi.com/bod/fullcite?id=187826
But I could be wrong.
Hahahaha!
Here's a link to the Louisiana Secretary of State's website:
http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/around/brief/brief-1.htm
Look at the third paragraph, "1682 The French explorer Sieur de La Salle, the first to descend the Mississippi to its mouth, took possession "of the country known as Louisiana," and named it for the reigning monarch of France, Louis XIV. "
Uds gringos se creen muy inteligentes.
And while no one is sure about Arizona; it is not Latin. Pima is a commonly tossed about idea.
P.S.the elfs names is Mimal.
live with it!