Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1872-07-20

rigo Vespucci visited il in 1899, that
is to s,y, some sAven years after 90
Iumbus discovered it, and returning
TO | ally published there, i'll 1900, an
account Of his voyage, and it has
been a common belief that no gnve
his own name, Latiniced after the
fashion Of those days, to the CONT
nent
~ appears now, however, that this
is a mistake, according to the re-
searches OF Dr. Francis Lleber. In
a letter to the editor Of The Au,erican
HistoricaL Rccord, that gentleman
says: GLOW Yespucci's name cans
to be applied to our continent was
thus: The Germans, neither among
the early discoveries nor conqutsta-
dores, nevertheless took tho deepest
interest in the nasc.nt science Of COS
biography the namo for nearly that
which is now called geography, and
through this science influenced posi-
lively ana practically that great age
OF maritime discovery and geograph-
ic expansion which widened COM
merco from the little yet wonderful
ly influential Mediterranean to the
commerce Of the Atlantic, the South
ern Ocean, and the Pacific, Behaim
globe and Mercator'8 Kramer plan,
without which navigation could not
have advanced, sufficiently prove this
fact. Lorraine was a German prin-
cipality at the beginning Of the six
teenth century, and the reignlng
Duke had formed at his court an ac-
adcmy 0 .cosmography, OF which a
schoolmaster at StrasburS then, as
now again German city was
member, or to which, at any rate, he
proposed the name America for
the Western Hemisphere, or for
North America. Tho nsme Of this
resolute and saslcious schoolmnSter
WAS Wald5eemuller Nood-lakeluil-
lcr which lie transformed into
Greco-Latin monster Of a name, Hy-
lacom,lus; and Hylscouilus is the
name that first wrong-j Columbus
by immortalizing 50 graudly the
name of one who followed the great
proto-Euretes at 4 long, long dis
tance, and who has been outstrlpped
in the character of discoverer by
very many later discoyerrrs.
DR.. Lieber, however, is not s'tis-
fed with explaining how Amerigo
Vespucci's name came to be given TO
this continent by q German. He
must go on to show that the name IT.
solfis Of German origin, thus "Em-
ric, or Amlic, is an old German per-
sonal name. I'M means diligence or
activity hence, AmeiSc, the German
for ant, theindustrious insect, by way
of excellence; and ric our rich sig
nifes strong, abundant. I0Wic, there
fore, meant very industrious or active,
and as the German conquerors Of ltN-
ly carried thither German names,
which the Italians soltened down,
Amric was euphoni2ed by them ioto
Amrico or America, which, in turn,
was Lat0nized into AmericuS. This,
again, was applied in the feminine
gender, "America, to this continent
because the names Of all continents
ind countries are feminine i'll Latin.
This is plausible enough; but names
and words very similar to America
had been i'll use in Italy centuries
before Vespucci. There was the
town of Amcria in Umbria, that il,
in the north of Italy, the inhabitants
Of which were called "AmTinb and
there was the Sabine town of Amerj-
ola. There we've also the Greek words
Amaces, signifying individual, inner
ica OF Hemera, day; and Amer7zo, sig.
nifying to deprive one o. his share,
which word is singularly applicable
to Vespucci; all of which words we're
familiar to educated Italians, so that
is by no means certain 'bough it is
probable, that AmeIf,c |ss derived
from the German.
But it has as yet to be proved that
Columbus knew nothing of the visits
paid by t., Icelanders and Danes to
this continent about the year 1000,
and TIE subsequent expeditions from
Norway and Wales. It was we.
known that he had spert years in
gathering up all the particulars md
all the traditions he could respecting
the far off Atlantis of the ancisnts,
and that he visited various countries
III search of information on the sub,
ect, rs well as to procure patronage
for his undertaking. The knowledge
he thus acquired was eloquently urg-
ed by him before Queen Isabella,
and was ono of the causes of her civ.
ing him her support. If, then, he
had heard of the exploits of the
Northern navigators in the eleventh
century, he could hardly have failed
to hear, also, that they had named
this continent, or that portion OF it
which they coasted, extending from
Massachusetts to Carolina, Vinland,
and what is more extraordinary still,
that they met with an Iriihman who
had lived thore many years, and al
SO with persons who informed them
that further south there were white
men, descendants OF solue who had
come from beyond the sea. With
out detracting from the glory of Co.
lumbus, who reduced to practice
what had ceased to exist except in
theory, there is not much risk in as
serting that obscure traditions of the
existence of vast continent Oh the
other side OF the Atlantic had been
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