A Pet Peeve

I really cannot stand it when I see bumper stickers hounding all non-English speakers to basically get the hell out of this country. By and large, this is directed at Spanish-speakers by people who, although native English speakers, cannot form a coherent English sentence and yet somehow object to people being allowed to speak their native language in legal proceedings. Today’s bumper sticker was more of the same and was on a beat up truck driven by a gnarly looking man with very few teeth who would probably need any legal documents translated into ‘bumpkin.’ This really gets under my skin when I’m living in a state called "Colorado." Not only is it a Spanish word, the Spanish were here first. The United States ceded its claim to this territory in its purchase of Florida, then got it back in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Spanish settlers were already here and already guarding the territory when Zebulon Pike set out to explore the area. His party was arrested and kicked out.

So it got me wondering just how many states have origins other than English. As it turn out, the vast majority. I’ve compiled a list. Most state names come from Native American words that passed through French, English, Spanish, and in one case, Russian, on the way. The ones with English names all come from the names of important people or places in England. Only the Spanish came up with actual descriptive names based on the places they encountered. I find that interesting. The English and the French just sucked up to the nobles. I also find it extremely interesting that the humdrum name "Rhode Island" started out Italian. So without further ado, I present my list. And I think that the next time I encounter someone who objects to Spanish being on all the signs, I’m just going to ask them what state they live in.

 

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Alabama – Native American. Sources vary as to whether this name comes from the Creek or Choctaw language. It could mean “tribal town” (Creek) or “thicket-clearers” “vegetation-gatherers” (Choctaw).

Alaska  – Native American/Russian. The name comes from the Russian version of the Aleutian word Alakshak, which means “great lands” or “peninsula.”

Arizona – Native American/ Spanish. The name is the Spanish interpretation of two Native words. Arizuma, which means “silver-bearing” in Aztec, and arizonac, which means “little spring place” in Pima.

Arkansas – Native American/ French. Comes from the Sioux word acansa, meaning “downstream place.”

California – Spanish. Named by the Spanish conquistadores after an earthly paradise described in the romance “Las Serges de Esplandian.”

Colorado – Spanish. Named for the red sandstone common in the region and means “colored red.”

Connecticut – Native American. Originally spelled “Quinnehtukqut,” the name means “beside the long tidal river.”

Delaware – English Namesake. Named for Sir Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, the governor of Jamestown in 1610.

Florida – Spanish. Originally called “Pascua Florida” (Flowery Easter) by Ponce de Leon after the Spanish “Feast of the Flowers” Easter celebration.

Georgia – English Namesake. Named for King George II.

Hawaii – Native American. Probably based on the original native word for “homeland” (Owhyhee).

Idaho – Original. Presented as a Shoshone word meaning “gem of the mountains,” but entirely made up.

Illinois  – Native American/ French. A French interpretation of an Algonquin word meaning “warriors” or “tribe of superior men.”

Indiana – Original. Chosen to mean “Land of Indians” for the number of Native people there.

Iowa – Native American. Named for the Iowa (Ioway) tribe.

Kansas – Native American. A Sioux word meaning “south win people.”

Kentucky – Native American. Exact meaning and origin are debatable, but it may mean “land of tomorrow,” “meadow lands,” “cane and turkey lands,” or “dark and bloody ground.”

Louisiana – French Namesake. Named in honor King Louis XIV.

Maine – English. Probably comes from a nautical term referring to the region as a mainland, separate from its outlying islands.

Maryland – English Namesake. Named in honor of the wife of King Charles I, Henrietta Maria.

Massachusetts – Native American. An Algonquin word meaning “at or about the great hill.”

Michigan – Native American/French. Comes from the Chippewa word meicigama, meaning “great water.”

Minnesota – Native American. A Dakota Sioux word meaning “sky-tinted water” in honor of its many lakes.

Mississippi – Native American/French. The French interpretation of an Algonquin/Ojibwe word misi-ziibi, meaning “Great River.”

Missouri – Native American. Comes from the name of Sioux tribe and means “wooden canoe people.”

Montana – Spanish. Meaning “mountainous.”

Nebraska – Native American. Comes from an Otos Indian word meaning “flat water.”

Nevada – Spanish. Originates in Sierra Nevada, which means “snow-covered mountain range.” It is the feminine form of “covered in snow.”

<p class="MsoNormal”>New Hampshire – English Place Name. Named for Hampshire in England.

New Jersey – English Place Name. Named for the island of Jersey in the English Channel.

New Mexico – Native American/ Spanish. Anglicized version of Nuevo Mexico. The word Mexico comes from an Aztec word, meaning “place of Mexitili (a god).”

New York – English Namesake. Named after the Duke of York and Albany, King Charles II’s brother.

North Carolina – English Namesake. Named in honor of King Charles I

North Dakota – Native American. Dakota is the Sioux word for “friend.”

Ohio – Native American. The Iroquois word for “good river.”

Oklahoma – Native American. The name is based on the Choctaw words okla, meaning “people” and humma, meaning “red.”

Oregon – Native American/ French/ English. It’s meaning is disputed, but probably taken from the Native tribes’ name for a river.

Pennsylvania – English Namesake/ Portmanteau. A combination of the name Penn, for William Penn, and the Latin word Sylvania, meaning “woodland.”

Rhode Island – Italian. First called Isola di Rhode by Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524 for Narragansett Bay’s resemblance to the Island of Rhodes in the Mediterranean).

South Carolina – English Namesake. Named for King Charles I of England.

South Dakota – Native American. Dakota is the Sioux word for “friend.”

Tennessee – Native American. Named for the Cherokee village of Tanasi. Also the name of a river.

Texas – Native American. From the Cabbo Indian word teyshas, meaning “friends” or “allies.”

Utah – Native American. From the Apache word yuttahih, which means “one that is higher up.”

Vermont – French. From the French words verd mont, meaning “green mountain.”

Virginia – English Namesake. Named for Queen Elizabeth I, also called “The Virgin Queen,” because she never married.

Washington – American Namesake. Named for George Washington.

West Virginia – English Namesake. Named for Queen Elizabeth I, also called “The Virgin Queen,” because she never married.

Wisconsin – Native American. Comes from the Chippewa word ouisconsin, or “grassy place.”

Wyoming – Native American. An Algonquin word meaning “large prairie place.”