The Holbrook news., 1912-04-12
NAMING THE STATES
ORIGIN OF RHODE ISLAND HAS
 BEEN A PUZZLE. r
eennsyIvanIa Was Not Named for William Penn, It's 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 h.
 dians 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 assa-Wadchuash-et, to which
 the first explorers added an "s" to
 make it plural, and shortened the name to it's present form.
 The origin of Rhode Island has been a puzzle to historians. Some writers tells us the name is a corruption of the Dutch words Roode Eylandt, sig nifying Red Island, given to it by the Dutch discoverers because it's shores presented a red appearance. But they do not present a red appearance.
 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 call a roadstead. We should not know where to find a 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 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 1644, 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, a name so bafhing to foreigners, is Indian, and means "land on a long tidal river" The Indian form of 1t is Quin-neh-tukquet. In some of the early records it is spelled Quinetuckquet The most curious thing about the name of Pennsylvania 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 5, 16sD my country was confirmed to me by the name of Pennsylvania, a name which the king (Charles II.) 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 a man of far greater renown than his son, the Quaker. whose ef1gy surmounts the city hall in Philadelphia.
 It is the opinion of many authorities that the Indian word Kentuckee did i not signify "dark and bloody battle ground" as many have supposed. They incline to the belief that the | word means "at the head of river" and that it was used to designate the | place where the Indians gathered | previous to migration southward. | This spot was near the source of the Kentucky river The best conjecture as to the origin of the name Tennes 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 names of our states several languages are represented, the English, the | French, the Indian. the Spanish and he Latin.