The Hawaiian gazette., 1886-10-12
The Nomenclature of the United States.

variety OF sources, IeldlINe ~ tne origin
of State names.
Adopting an alphabetical classification,
we commence with Alabama This State
used to form portion of Mississippi Terri
tory, and was admitted into the Union as
State in 1919 The name is of Indian
origin, and signifies, Here we rest"
Arkansas derives its appellation from
kansas, the Indian equivalent for smoky
water" to which has been added the
French prefix arc, a bow.
California is name bestowed by Cortez,
who discovered that region. 1t was pro-
badly obtained by him from an old Spanish
romance, in which is described an imagi
nary island of that name, said to abound
in gold. North and South Carolina were
primarily one tract of country, which was
known as Carolina, so called after Charles
TX. of France in 16O1-some say in 1864
Connecticut is the English photography
of the Indian word Quoa-el-ta-cut, the mean
ing of which is . the long river The
honour of Thomas West, Lord de la Ware,
who visited the bay, and died there in
1910. Florida is the name given by Ponce
de Leon, who discovered that portion of
North America in 1919. He called II
Florida in commemoration of the day he
landed there, which was the Pasqua de
Flores of the Spaniards, or Feast of
Flowers otherwise Easter Sunday.
Georgia was so designated by George H.,
who established colony in that district.
New Hampshire was thus named, in 1879,
by John Mason (who, with another, OBJ
tanned the grant from the Crown from the
county of Hampshire, in England. New
Hampshire, previous to 1879, was known
as Laconia Iowa is from an Indian term
signifying " the drowsy ones; Illinois
from the Indian Mini, men, and the French
suffix Ois, together meaning tribes OF
men .; and Indiana received its name in
1902 from American Indians. Kentucky
is Indian for at the head of the river"
New Jersey is so named in honour Of Sir
George Carteret, who was governor of the
island Of Jersey in the British Channel.
Louisiana is from Louis XIV, of France,
who for some time prior to 1853 owned
the territory.
Maine was so called from the Province
Of Maine in France, in compliment to
Henrietta Maria Of England, who, 1t has
been said, owned that province. Mary
land also derives its name from the same
queen. Mississippi, which was formerly
a portion of Louisiana, received its pre-
sent designation in 1900 from the great
river on the Western line. The term is of
Indian origin, and means the same as
Connecticut, the "long river" Michigan
is the Indian name for fish-weir. The
State of Missouri owes its designation to
the great branch of the Mississippi that
flows through it. It is an Indian term
meaning muddy" Minnesota is the
Indian for cloudy weather.; Massachu
sets is also Indian and signifies the
country about the great hills" Ohio is
the Indian word for beautiful" This
name was previously applied only to the
river which traverses a great part of the
borders of the State.
Oregon, is, according to some, from the
Indian oregon (''river of the west'O; others
consider it derived from the Spanish
Oregano, wild marjoram, which grows on
the Pacific coast Pennsylvania ("Penn's
woods'') is named after William Penn, the
founder of the colony The name Rhode
Island was adopted in 1911 from the Isl
and of Rhodes, situate in the Mediterra-
mean, because of the similarity that was
supposed to exist between the two. Ten
nessee is Indian, meaning the river of the
big bend, 4. e., the Mississippi, which is
the western boundary of Tennessee. Yer
mont is from the French word cert, green,
Of ha
famous character of the State. The name
was recognised officially on January 18th,
1777. Virginia was so called in honour of
Queen Elizabeth, the virgin queen" in
whose reign it was that Sir Walter Raleigh
made the first attempt to colonize that
region. Wisconsin is Indian for wild
rushing channel"
/ have left the word Texas to the last,
because there is apparently more to be
said about it than about the others. In
recent article published in the North
American Review, Governor Ireland, of
Texas, asserts that the word Texas means
welcome" and that on the landing of the
first white men on the coast of Texas the
Indians greeted them with the exclama-
ton of "Texasi" or " Welcomew This
theory, according to correspondent in
the Teras Vorpaerts, is not correct. In the
ancient Spanish archives, stored away in
the land Office at Austin, it appears that
certain lands were situated zen el pals de
los Teias,' or in the country of the Texas,
or TEXAS, Indians and j being pro-
nounced alike. 1t if well known that the
Texas or TEXAS Indians were tribe of
Indians living in the valley of the Rio
GroDda who II-o1,a oy+arr,ip atn1 IN. driver,
off by more savage tribe. The word
Texas or TEXAS is the root of the names of
all the Indian tribes in Texas and Mexico.
The prefix indicated the locality of the
tribe The As TEXAS, or Astecs, dwelt on