New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-10-09
THE WORD AMERICA"
Its Origin and Meaning in the Light
of History.
NJ Marion wilcox

a. reference, dictionaries and encyclopedias. We
shan hardly get q satisfactory response al pres
ent But Il IL decidedly worth while 10 atteIhp'
70 make the meaning OF such word clear Dy
placing It's history |ltinh easy reach o. e'S''
The name Anaairio On old High German Anal
rseh or Anelrlch: Gothic Amaiareiks. or -reakls;
variants Am-ei Am-ul and Am-h-Tih. or -ric)
iesna.ed among the Coths IN Northern and Central
Europe Adopted by some Of the other nauons %
the Teutonic stock before the great migration OF
those kindred peoples. II was carried by NortheEn
oopauerors Into ali West European countrles-eNeh
20 England and the Mediterranean coasts-petWeeh
the 9Th and eleventh centuries. The famous East
Gothic dynasty OF the Amala received It's name
according 10 tradition from rational hero whose
mighty labors had earned for him the title Anal
which as we shah presently explain was purely
democratic term. connoting personal character ana
achievement, without the slightest implication OF
social rank
From the dynastie name. the Goths a race. or
more narrowly. the East Goths, were Familiarity
called Die Arnelungen: the Anal king in the fourth
century ruled from the Baltic to the Black Sea- Dur
we notice that al the beginning OF the sixth century
n king OF the West Goths IN Spain and France
a grandson OF Theodore the Great, was cameo
Anaiarich The word Of democratic meaning thus
spread through a few lands was destined TO AFe
sn the centuries that followed and. indeed IN an
4he languages OF the world united inseparably with
the other short word which appears. as the seoohu
component part, IN the name OF that West Gotho
king.
The signiaoation Of the compound is OF eKtraoI-
binary Interest its second member occurs IN Olo
English dor example IN the Anglo-SaAon epic %
Eeov-ulf as ric, with the meaning powerful OF
when 8 substantive control domain, or empire
the modern German Reich According to hum
hoidt On Examen Criuoue, Volume lN) ano ms
contemporary. Professor Won der Hagen the luno@-
mental meaning Of the FIRST member dts root, an
often occurring in the dialects Of Iceland and Scan
diaav.a IN the forms anna, ambl, etc) is labor en-
duranoe Of great toll Accepting this view, we
ind that the title OF the Gothic national nero
Anal expressed popular appreciation OF the man
Of great ana laborious enterprises" Simply thaI
In order 10 show that anal when uniting Win me
aristocratic monOsyllable retained its 0Hie4hA4
value SO characteristic OF tie people VINO useo u
every day; that at least. they never thought
meant 1.-The mighty some authorities have as
.artea recenfly-we need only point 10 the tacH
that they prefxed It 20 rfc, which ITSELF sienineo
mighty" and that folk stories served 70 rel4ino
them constantly OF the primitive meaning OF HAe
nrst member. .s
sbe old ideal of heroism and leadership common TO
al CSernano tribes the ideal that STANDS Ou1 most
clearly In the character OF Beowuit-tae Fnn<i o.
Sweden. Denmark and Saxon hngiaha' Ine 80
mound plainly meant what the North European nero
.+o-ses described; The man who ruled because he
labored for the benefit OF al
In Norman France this name was sotteneo 10
Arnaury. Thus q certain theologian VINO was DORM
An the twelfth century at Bene. near ChaTtres' Is
-,1les tndifereutly Arnalrio OF Bene or Amaury OF
S-hartres England in the thirteenth century could
show no more commanding figure than simon OF
AFontfort-T Amaury, Earl OF Leicester. 10 WhOih
Fytne Henry once said. III fear the thunder
e. xo,, Sir Earl more than all the thunder In
rba ,Uorld" Norman Amalric was that Earl
Simon creator Of new force. and IN It's outcome
democratic one. too. In English poAucs' ). II"
Green saws 1T was the writ issued by Earl SIMON
that first summoned the merchant and trader TO
r,r beside the knight OF the shire. the baron ana
the bishop in the Parliament Of the realm" IN
Tte, after the Gothic invasion. the northern name
suffered comparatively slight euphonic changes
which can be easily traced AS borne by bishop
of Como in SIS II became Amelrico or Amelrgo.
Bur the juxtaposition OF the two consonants y
and T" presented a difficulty in pronunciation
which the Italians avoided: they changed r hrst'
10 double az" and then to a single 81" NeveTthe-
less six hundred years after Bishop Amelrigo died,
the FIorentine merchant. explorer and author
rlird son Of Anastasio vespucius. notary Of Flor
ence-usuaIly retained the double r. In his own
signature writing "Amerrigo VesPucci." and. by
the way accenting his Gothic name on the Denulti-
mate (AmeClgo. not Amerigo).
The orthogrsphy Of Americ was still IN this tran
eirional state in Italy al the end Of the fifteenth
century. In Spain the name must have been rare.
since II often used alone to designate the
Florentine during his residence In that country,
the audit books in the archives at Seville contain
ing entries in this form: "Ha de haber Anerigo."
There was. apparently, TO other Anerigo or Amer
Ego in the Spanish public service early in the six
tsenth century.
We must look again toward the north for the
scene OF the next important change and among the
men OF northern for its author Martin
Naldseemueller. a young German geographeT at
St Die IN the Vosgian Mountains whose magma
tion had been stirred by reading. OF
day. AMERICAS account o? his voyages TO the New
World. bestowed the name America upon the con-
tinental regions brought to light by the F1orentne
Il is not enough TO say. with John Boyd Thaoher
On his Columbus" Volume III; compare also Mr..
TEACHERS valuable Continent Of America'') that
Waldseemueller suggested" this designation. As
editor OF the Latin work the "Cosmographis In
troduetso" CAay s. I5O0. he stated distinctly.
with emphatic reeratlon his for this name
giving: placed conspicuousiy in the margin the per
feet geographical name. America" and at the end
OF the volume put Vespucci's narrative. Further
on large map OF the world. separately published
he drew that fourth part OF the earth "ouarta
orbis pars." which was the ''Introductio's' novel
feature and marked Il firmly America"
The contention of Professor Won der Hagen On
his letter 70 Humboldt published in 1885 IN 'Neues
Jahrbuch der Berliner Geseschaft fur Deutsche
sprache, Heft !, pp. BID. that waldseemuelle-
was distinctly conscious OF giving the new con-
tinent OF Germanic origin. may appeal 10
enthusiastic Germanists but the original text
clearly opposes that conclusion ''Qua Americas
anVenit," says the Introductio. America terra
Fdve America nuncupaUe icet." But the case
stands otherwise when we ask why Europeans
generally caught up the word. as a name appro-
pirate 20 the new Terra Firma o. vaguely init
mated contours but Of defined and appalling dif-
1culty-a vaster. unfFied field for the exercise OF
proved Anal ability. its association with so many
men before Vespucci certainly commended the
name 10 northern taste
From the foregoing sketch anticipating some
What e article America: a Brief Account OF the
Derivation sno Meaning OF the Word" 10 be pub
hshed IN the rev Encyclopedia Amerfcana.) II
would seem that. when the people OF the northern
saxon arc Ieutonic. part Of the Western Hemis-
pnere mo Il convenient to employ the adjective
nwfr 49,