From: ccadeff@sunvis2.vislab.olemiss.edu (Sergio Adeff)
Subject: Re: Mafalda (para el que escribio en anglo)
Organization: Mississippi State University
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1992 01:22:02 GMT

In <wcsjc.725064933@cunews> wcsjc@alfred.carleton.ca (John Coughlin) writes:

>[ I am posting this because when I attempted to reply by e-mail, it bounced ]
Sorry.  If you want to e-mail me, please do it to ccadeff@mcsr.olemiss.edu

>Tengo dos preguntas para ti.

>   1. ? Que es el origen de la palabra "Patagonia" ?  Supongo que quiera
>        decir "land of big feet".  Pero, ? por que ?

>   2. ? Que es el origen del apelido "Porte~o" ?

Patagonia:  The first explorers of the currently named "Patagonia" region
	found on the coast of the present Santa Cruz Province (Argentina)
	huge footprints that they attributed to giants.  Those explorers
	were Spaniards under Magallanes (Magellan) who then went on to
	discover the Magellan Strait, get killed in the Phillipines, with 
	his tripulation completing (under the command of Sebastian del Cano)
	the first voyage around the globe in history, on the very same trip.  
	There were not such giants, but the indigenous population (Tehuelches)
	used to wrap their feet with leather to protect them from the intense
	cold out of an often-frozen soil, which would make huge footprints.
	"Pata" means animal's foot, and badly educated people would use it
	for humans as well. (Even well educated people often use the term in
	a peyorative or as a comic twist.)  Patagonia means "Land of people
	with big feet".
	On that same trip they saw huge bonfires on larboard as they cruised
	towards the Pacific Ocean and called that land "Tierra del Fuego"
	(Land with Fires), which is the name of that Argentine Province today.

Porte~o:  Buenos Aires was for many years, the only harbour Argentina had.  In
	Spanish, harbour means "puerto", and its dweller is a "porte~o".  The
	provinces had to pay royalties to the city of Buenos Aires to export
	and import merchandise, and this led to insurrection and civil war in
	the earlier years of Argentina.  The provinces called porte~o in a 
	despective sense to those living in Buenos Aires, and as it often
	happens, these adopted the term with pride.  The provinces won the
	war, the city lost what is now called Buenos Aires Province (separate
	from the city) and a Federal Republic resulted (one of the few in the
	world, together with U.S.A., Brazil, Canada & Venezuela in the Americas)	in which each Province or State has its own Constitution and Legislature	(Unlike France, for instance, which is a Unitary Republic.)

Feliz Navidad y Prospero A~o Nuevo !

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Sergio E. Adeff, Ph.D., Professor & Consultant           Phone: 601-232-7206
The University of Mississippi                            FAX:   601-232-7180
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University, MS 38677                Internet: ccAdeff@Crayx.MCSR.OleMiss.Edu
U.S.A.                        Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research
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====  MSCR  ====   THE MISSISSIPPI CENTER FOR SUPERCOMPUTING RESEARCH   ====
====  1987  ====   *                  CRAY X-MP/216                 *   ====
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-- 
Regards, Sergio.  
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Sergio E. Adeff, Ph.D., Professor & Consultant           Phone: 601-232-7206
The University of Mississippi                            FAX:   601-232-7180
Organization: Doctoral student, History, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA