Arizona weekly citizen., 1891-08-29
ARfzoNA-YtlosON.

Endless opinions have been vertured on the words Arizona" and Tucson. '' but as whole these opinions have been based upon guess work and personal i'm pressions by people who have no knowl- edge of the language of the aborigine from which the names undoubtedly came, The appended letter, however by gentleman, resident of this coun- ! try for 26 years, who is as familiar with the Indian tongues as the Indians them selves, will, we think. throw light on the subject and give an acceptable so- lution of the original ard meaning oi the names in question. We commend the letter to the attention of etymolo- gists:
 1 EDITOR CITIZEN
 am no pretender, neither am I an | etymulogist, but 1t seems from the fol lowing that there are some such:
 Notwithstanding the new fangled 1 notion concerning the derivation Of the name 'ArizIna,'" says the Tombstone P7ospector, there are old timers in Tom bstone who :ake nc stock in any theory other than that it means arid zone"
 The name is undoubtedly defamatory 1 to the name of our delightful territory Let those ''old timers" take tTi1 to she summit of Vermiilion Cliff, on the on the Little Ceior tdo, and look from thence to the south; let them take 1 another look towards the west from St. Johns; another look frcm Mt. Ddvi4 to- ward the east and another view from the aop of the Quiiotoa mountains toward the north and if any of those "old liners" can see one square mile of "8rld zone" 1 will give them my cabez for foot ball.
 The points mentioned are situated on he northern, eastern, southern and Vt st -rn boundaries of our terrltory, and from all these points the most heaut fui val eys and ave inspiring mountains can oe seen, all covered with verdura. ;4npot attribute the shortsighcedness Jf those Tombstone .'old mers' to any thing but the want of travel athwart the territory and ignorance of it's topo- yraphy.
 Now We will go for the derivation of the name Arlzona: It is neither Italian nor Spanish, but pure and simple -Papago." Long before the advent of the Jesuit Father ', the Indians who are low called Papagos, lived a. a place asmed by the Spaniards Sasaba, but which the aboriginal called ''Ar-li zon, Y" meaning LITTLE SPRING. The Spaniards ;cming north from Mexico a supposed 0 have met some of those dians, and. isked where they live, the indians re- Jlied "Arlizon," which at that time was one of the largest villages. There tore the country north from Sasaba Arlizon) to the Gila river was call ed Arizona by the Spaniards.
 Here is another name, which, 1 See. rives the etymologlst considers bic trouble-"Tucson." Mostly all the gen uIne old timers-God bless Jhem!-have seen and taken m any coolin drink out If the spring by the old cottonwood tree. just south of Fish's mill, where the oath house was situated The aboriginal :alied this spring "Juke -zon," meaning BLACK SPRING. Inc Indians cultivated he grounds around this spring, and ,lso had large village about where tlain street now runs.
 When the SpaniardS arrived at luke zou they changed the name of the place o suit themselves, and spelled it Tucson. If person should meet q Pdpago on the road 10 Tucson and ask him where he IS ,olng, he will reply, "Juke-zon" lolack spring)
 The Papagos before they were b9p iZed by the JesuiJs were called 'JGve lua tum" which means rabbit eaters. When they We're made clean in spirit, hey had thvIr Lair cut and were receiv sd into the church, and, like the Israel tes of old, manufactured brick out of mud. Then .hey were cousecrated and called "Papa go," belonging to the 'athers, or more properly, belonging to the pope.
 It might De interesting to say more )u the above theme but will walt future date. "S."
 One of the "Old Timers"