The record-union., 1894-03-24

as Cape Mendocino. To Cabrillo. then, is
ascribed the honor of the discovery of
our western coast line and country.
The name California, at first designat-
ing small and uncertain territory, later
applied to the peninsula, was by extern
sion soon applied to the great area ex-
tending indefinitely northward, even to
Asia. 1t was not long before the upper
country began to be designated as Califor-
MIA Septentrional, California del Norte,
Neuva California, or California Superior.
The designation Alta California. how
ever, gradually became most common.
although it was not the legal name till
1924. 1t seems somewhat remarkable
| that, down to the year OF the American
| conquest QS46), the whole country was
called by Californians and Mexicans a
peninsula, even in official documents.
But whence came the name California?
And wherein lies the fitness of its appli-
cation? These were for centuries ques-
tions of pure conjecture. At last, IN 1852,
DIR. Edward Everett Hale fortunately came
upon the source whence the diScoyererS
obtained the name. California is first
met with in the almost-forgotte ro-
nance, 1.-The Sergas of Explandian, the
Son Of Anadis of Gaul," written by Or
donez de Montalvo, and first published in
Seville about 1910, with later editions OF
1919, 1871 and 1925. In this old romance
the name occurs three times, the passage
most commonly quoted being: know
that on the right hand OF the Indies there
is an island called California, very near
to the Terrestrial Paradise, which was
peopled by black women, without any
men among them, because they were ac-
customed 10 live after the manner OF the
AmaZons. They were of strong and
hardened bodies, Of ardent courage and
great iorce. The island was the strongest
| h., Il fxN,, tic, or n.Ir md
great cliffs. Their arms were all of gold,
and so were the caparlSons OF the wild
beasts they rode" Another occurrence
OF the name is this: SIN the island called
California are many griffins, on account
of the savageness Of the country and the
immense quantity OF wild game TO be
found there"
The plot of this celebrated romance,
which is the ''moSt fictitious of fiction"
throughout, is laid in an attempt against
Constantiuople by the Turkish inhdels.
The part played by California's swarthy
Queen, Calatia, 'most beautiful of all
of them," is entertainingly told by DR..
Hale in the AtIa7stic Monthly, but can
scarcely be considered necessary to this
sketch. After tracing the events of the
Queen Of California and her black female
subjects in the great campaign, the author
of the romance closes with the tantallz-
ing statement: "What happened to them
afterwards | must be excused from tell
ing, for they passed through many
strange achievements of the greatest
valor; they fought many battles and
gained many Kingdoms, of which, if we
should give the story, there would be
danger that we should never have DONE"
1t may be noted here that there is no his
torical evidence of the application OF the
name of this fanciful island, whose only
metal was gold and whose precious
stones were like the stones of the field for
abundance, to the newly discovered
western country, but none is needed
Bancroft asserts that mo intelligent man
will ever question the accuracy of Hale's
theory"
We may now examine some of the
! curious attempts TO supply a satisfactory
etymology for this word California,
which Cronise has pronounced COM
pound of Greek and Latin. a most COM
mon conjectural derivation is the Latin
catidG fOiNG, or other forms from the
| same roots, as caLidltS foTRuS, c0liente
! f0YnaIa, and cGtient0 h0rRo. Such de-
rivation would make California "a land
| of hot ovens" or ''a fiery furnace" ."
| Archibald in the Overland Monthly points
out that cdliente h0rn0 is the wrong order
| and that the correct form resulting from
| this combination would be "Fornicalia. D
! Besides, this derivation would seem tC
have an exceedingly remote connec-
tion-if any-with the name of the
tabled island Of the romance, where
wealth and beauty abounded. State
ments like that of Leopold Wagner.
who dogmatically asserts that California
is derived from the two Spanish words
| cnLtente f0fr0lLd," while beautiful IN
their simplicity, are at the very least pos
itively misleading.
Greek scholars have suggested KaId-