STATE NAMES — HARRINGTON 383 



have the same form, or that the name is Spanish "montana," an unusual 

 Spanish word for mountai]i. 



In I860 it was proposed that the Territory then created be called 

 Montana Territory, but the name Idaho Territory was adopted in- 

 stead. Montana Territory was created in 1864, the name unsuccess- 

 fully proposed the year previous becoming adopted. In 1889 Mon- 

 tana became a State. 



Nebraska. — The principal river is the Platte, called in French la 

 riviere Platte, meaning "the broad river." According to Dr. La 

 Flesch, a native Omaha who also spoke French, the State of Nebraska 

 derives its name from the Omaha name of the Platte River, which is 

 Niboapka (ni, "water"; boapka, "broad"), the meaning being the 

 same as that of la riviere Platte. Fremont, who went to what is now 

 Nebraska in 1842, was the first to use the name Nebraska, applying it 

 to the Platte River. According to La Flesche, Nibraska would be a 

 more correct pronunciation. Nebraska Territory was created in 1854, 

 Nebraska State in 1864. 



Nevada. — Nevada is an abbreviation for Sierra Nevada, Spanish 

 for "snowy range." Spanish ships engaged in the trade between the 

 Philippine Islands and Mexico used to sight these mountains when 

 far off the California coast, in the I7th and 18th centuries, and spoke 

 of them as la Sierra Nevada. Most of the Sierra Nevada range is in 

 California. In February 1858, it was decided to form a new Territory 

 out of western Utah and it was suggested that it be named after the 

 Sierra Nevada. May 12, 1859, the Territory was admitted under the 

 name of Nevada. Nevada became a State in 1864. 



New Hampshire. — Hampshire is a famous shire or county of central 

 England, the name of which was transferred to tlie New World 

 colony. The county seat of Hampshire, England, is Hampton. The 

 form of Hampton is in Anglo-Saxon Haamtuun, meaning "village." 

 One early recording of Hampshire shows that it is short for Hampton- 

 shire, in Anglo-Saxon Haamtuunsciir. In 1629 Mason gave the name 

 New Hampshire to a part of the area comprised later by the State of 

 New Hampshire. 



Nero Jersey. — In the name Jersey, the initial J is for ch. Jersey is 

 the principal one of the Channel Islands, and bore in Latin the name 

 Insula Caesareea, literally "the Cesarian Island," meaning the Federal 

 Island. Caesareeus is an adjective derived from Caesar, which name 

 can perhaps be connected with the fifth declension noun of Latin, 

 caesariees., "hairiness." In 1664 Lord Berkeley and Sir George Car- 

 teret, who was a native of the island of Jersey, named New Jersey 

 when they were gi'anted the charter for that colony. 



New Mexico. — The Spanish form of this name, "Nuevo Mexico," was 

 for several centuries used as a designation for the region of the upper 



