380 Al^WrUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1954 



and the Dakota Sioux name is also exactly the same. Kansas is a 

 French spelling, the final s being silent in French pronunciation, as 

 it still is in the Federally approved pronunciation of Arkansas. The 

 name KaNze, in the Kansas language at least, means "the south-wind." 

 The Kansas River is a large river of northeast Kansas and the name 

 of the tribe being applied to the river, the application to the Territory 

 and State was natural. The Kansas region was within the Louisiana 

 Purchase except for the southwest corner, which was taken from 

 Texas. Kansas Territory was created in 1854, Kansas State in 1861. 



Kentucky. — The earliest occurrence of the word Kentucky is from 

 the pen of Major Trent, in 1753, and the spelling is exactly the same 

 as today. From 1794 comes the recording of the name which is next 

 oldest, Cane-tuck-ee. The name is merely the Wyandot Iroquoian 

 word for plain, and was applied originally to Kentucky Plains in 

 what is now Clark County, central Kentucky. Kentucky was long a 

 vague "province" of Virginia. A common erroneous belief is that 

 Kentucky signifies "dark and bloody ground." In 1790 Kentucky was 

 made a Territory, and in 1792 a State. 



Louisiana. — Louisiana is the feminine of a Latinlike adjective, used 

 as a country name. It was first applied by La Salle in 1682 in honor 

 of Louis XIV of France to the entire Mississippi Valley and region 

 of the later Louisiana Purchase. The State of Louisiana is only a 

 small part of the vast area originally bearing this appellation. The 

 French spelling is La Louisianne, always with the definite article. 

 The territory of Orleans was created out of part of the Louisiana 

 Purchase in 1804 and Louisiana State was created out of Orleans Ter- 

 ritory in 1812. 



Maine. — Maine was the name of a former province of France, very 

 prominent in earlier times, and is guessed to be derived from the last 

 two syllables of Ceno-manni, a Celtic tribe mentioned by Caesar, lo- 

 cated where Maine is now. In America the early French gave the 

 names Maine and Arcadie. The southern part of Maine was one of 

 the Thirteen Colonies; the northern part was fixed by treaty be- 

 tween the United States and Great Britain in 1842. The French 

 pronunciation is Meen, with long open ee. Other sources state that 

 Maine originally signified the mainland country. 



Maryland. — Maryland was named in honor of Queen Henrietta 

 Maria, wife of Charles I of England. Henrietta Maria was the 

 daughter of Henry IV, King of France. Charles I proposed that 

 the colony of Maryland be called for his wife Mary, Maryland, Latin 

 Terra Mariae., and this designation of the colony was written into the 

 charter given by Charles I to the first Lord Baltimore. Henrietta 

 Maria was called Mary by many of the writers of the time. A popular 

 fancy is that the State of Maryland was named after the Virgin Mary, 

 since it was a Catholic colony. 



