THE ORIGIN OF AMERICAN STATE NAMES 



119 



"ruddy/' and may come from the color 

 of the stream at some places. Then, 

 again, it is possible that the State was 

 named from the red earth of some re- 

 gions which were settled in the early 

 days. 



The name of California was originally 

 given by some of the followers of Cortez, 

 the conqueror of Aztec Mexico, to what 

 is now known as Lower California, 

 whence the name spread to the present 

 State. The imagination of Cortez's men 

 had been fired by the reading of an old 

 Spanish romance of chivalry called "Las 

 Sergas de Esplandian," in which was de- 

 scribed a fabled island called California, 

 where gold and precious stones in abun- 

 dance were found, and they gave this 

 name to the new land which they had 

 discovered. It is strange that a name 

 accidentally given should later prove so 

 descriptive. 



Some years later Sir Francis Drake, 

 the daring English navigator, sailed into 

 San Francisco Bay and called the region 

 "New Albion'' ; but the name did not 

 "take." 



As to Oregon, the best information 

 obtainable regarding the origin of its 

 name is of varied nature and several 

 theories are equally well supported. The 

 first recognized theory is that the name 

 was taken from that of a species of wild 

 sage called "origanum,'' which grows in 

 profusion on the coast of the State. The 

 second is to the effect that the name is 

 derived from the Spanish word "Ore- 

 gones," meaning "Big-eared Men,'' sup- 

 posed to have been given to the natives 

 by a Jesuit priest who settled in that 

 country in the early days. 



Joaquin Miller, "The Poet of the Sier- 

 ras," said that the name came from the 

 Spanish "Aura Agua," meaning "Gently 

 Falling Waters." It is on the strength 

 of these two latter theories that this name 

 is included with those of Spanish origin. 

 Several other more obscure theories ex- 

 ist, but neither these nor the three men- 

 tioned above can be substantiated. 



AMERICAN NAMES FOR ONLY TWO STATES 



Two States may be said to have Amer- 

 ican names. The first is Washington, 

 named for the Father of his Country, 

 and the second Indiana, so called on ac- 



count of the purchase and subsequent 

 settlement by various Indian tribes of 

 large tracts of land north of the Ohio 

 River and within the present boundaries 

 of the State. 



INDIAN NAMES DERIVED FROM SEVERAL 



TONGUES 



When we review Indian State names, 

 we must remember that there was no 

 one Indian tongue. Instead, there were 

 several separate and distinct languages, 

 and each of these was divided into many 

 dialects. Hence the wide variance in 

 Indian names in different sections of the 

 country. For instance, note the wide 

 difference between Penobscot and Ken- 

 nebec in Maine and Chattahoochee and 

 Apalachicola in Florida. Then, again. 

 Mount Katahdin. in Maine, and the Kit- 

 tatinny Range, in Xew Jersey, are from 

 the same Algonquin tongue, but repre- 

 sent the Abenaki and Leni-Lenape, or 

 Delaware, forms of the word for "Great 

 Peak." 



Most, if not all, of these Indian terms 

 have suffered corruption at the hands of 

 the white man, in some cases to such an 

 extent that all connection with the origi- 

 nal word seems to be lost ; but the names 

 as they remain still retain their beautiful 

 and sonorous sound. 



From the translation of Indian names 

 we gain an idea of the practical mind of 

 the Indian. He lived in the open, close 

 to nature ; he hunted and fished through- 

 out his whole life, and his constant con- 

 tact with the forests and streams, hills 

 and plains, shows in his system of no- 

 menclature, for his place-names are most 

 descriptive and invariably based on some 

 natural feature of the country. 



The Indian never took names from 

 other lands than his, and did not honor 

 individuals with geographical names, as 

 does the white man. He was seldom sat- 

 isfied with short descriptive names, such 

 as could be translated into "green hill" 

 or "swift river," but was partial to poly- 

 syllabic names, which, when translated, 

 had such meanings as "honey water of 

 many coves" or "winding river of many 

 fish." Such translations of Indian names 

 remain with us, although the original 

 words may have been shortened or cor- 

 rupted by the white man. 



