Quicksilver you can speculate about ind gena but until you find some other notable source which puts forward this proposed derivation it should not be included IMO this is highly fanciful if this is to be explained as an english corruption of a spanish word how do you then account for the very many references in spanish documents of the time to los Indios the people and las Indias the place Surely native spanish speakers themselves would not get confused between ind gena and references to the East Indies las Indias Orientales Whether Columbus really believed what he wrote about reaching the Indies we can only speculate Eratosthenes s relatively accurate calculation of the Earth s circumference was only one estimate amongst many was not generally held and AFAIK we ve nothing to indicate that Columbus accepted or relied on this figure TALK 02 49 2005 September 5 UTC