The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1912-03-29
NAMING TIT STATES.
ORIGIN OF RHODE ISLAND HAS
BEEN A PUZZLE.
Pennsylvania Was Not Named for
william Penn, Its Founder, But
for His Father, the Then ::.
Famous Admiral.

Some curious information has been
collected BY the antiquaries concern
Ing the origin of the names Of certain
OF our states. OF Massachusetts, for
instance, it is said that when John
Smith explored the coast of New Eng
land in 1914 he found the shores of
this state inhabited by a tribe Of In
dams called the Massachusetts. The
word means near the great hills be-
ing composed of "massa," great,
"wadchuash," hills, and 'et," near:
Thus the name in the Indian tongue
was Observation-Disclosures" to which
the first explorers added an IS" to
make IT plural, and shortened the
name to its present form.
The origin OF Rhode Island has been
puzzle to historians. Some writer's
tells us the name is corruption OF
the Dutch words Roode Eylandt, sig
n1fy1ng Red Island. given to it by the
Dutch discoveries because it's shores
presented a red appearance. But they
do not present a red appearance.
I Others, with more probability, have
traced the name to Road Island, mean
ing the island near the roadstead.
Competent authorities have doubted
the correctness of this explanation,
because there is no piece of water
near by which sailors would naturally
CALI a roadstead. We should not know
where to find good riding" in the
sailors sense of the term, without
running into Narragansett bay. The
favorite derivation at present is more
simple. One of the leading settlers
of Newport was a man named Rhodes,
and the island was probably named
after him, perhaps in Jest, perhaps
in compliment. The original order
fixing the island of Newport, dated
1914, decreed that the name should
be 'The Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Is
land" The same appellation was aft
erward applied to the state. of which
Newport was a part.
/ Connecticut, name so battling to
foreigners: is Indian, and means 'land
on long tidal river" The Indian
form of 1t is Quin-neh-tukquet. In
some Of the early records it is spelled
Quinetuckquct. The most curious
is that it was not derived from the
founder of the state, William Penn.
It is William Penn himself who re-
cords the fact:
This day (January S, 1881 my
country was confirmed to- me by the
name Of Pennsylvania, a name which
the king (Charles ~ would give it
in honor Of my father" Penn wished
to call the region New Wales, but the
king persisted in naming it after Ad-
miral Penn, then man of far greater
| renown than his son, the Quaker,
/ whose eff1gy surmounts the, city hall
In Philadelphia.
| It is the opinion of many authorities
that the Indian word Kentuckee did
not signify dark and bloody battle
| ground" as many have supposed.
They incline to the belief that the
word means "at the head of a river
and that It was used to designate the
/ place where the Indians gathered
|, previous to migration southwark
This spot was near the source Of the
/ Kentucky river. The best conjecture
as to the origin Of the name Tennee.
| see is that It comes from Tanasse
the name OF an Indian chief whose
tribe was settled upon one Of the
branches Of the Tennessee river
| This. however, is disputed. In the
I names Of our states several languages
I are represented, the English. the
French, the Indian. the Spanish and
the Latin.