State names a linguistic melting pot

According to the History Channel, long before it graced Tennessee, “Memphis” was the name of the ancient capital of Aneb-Hetch (Lower Egypt), meaning “good place to live.” Which had me wondering about other American cities and states, many of which seem to derive closer to home, from America’s First Peoples.

Michigan, for example, is likely a French settler’s twist on the Chippewa word “meicigama” (great lake).

And the other states?

Idaho’s is a mystery. Most sources describe “Idaho” as entirely made up. As the story goes, mining lobbyist George M. Willing suggested “Idaho” to Congress for a new territory around Pike’s Peak (later, Colorado), falsely claiming it was a Shoshone Indian word meaning “gem of the mountains.” By the time his deception was discovered, the term was too prevalent to change. Less reliable trivia sites — veracity unknown — claim “idaahe” is either Apache or Comanche for “enemy.”

Whatever their stories, the common explanations for most state names involve other languages, apropos of this melting pot.

Alabama: Choctaw “albah amo” (thicket-clearers) or Creek Indian for “tribal town”

Alaska: Aleut “alaxsxaq,” or its Russian pronunciation, meaning peninsula

Arizona: Spanish version of Aztec “arizuma” (silver-bearing), and Pima Indian “arizonac” (little spring place or good oaks)

Arkansas: French pronunciation of Algonquin “akansa” (name for the Quapaw people), or of the Sioux kka’ze (downstream place or people)

California: Imaginary realm from the 1510 Spanish novel, “Las sergas de Esplandián,” by Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo

Colorado: Spanish for “colored red,” as in the river

Connecticut: Eastern Algonquin, possibly Mohican, “quinnitukqut” (beside the long tidal river)

Delaware: For Baron De la Warr, a.k.a. Virginia Colony’s Governor Thomas West

Florida: Spanish “Pascua florida” (flowering Easter), named by Ponce de Leon on Palm Sunday; or Latin “floridus” (strikingly beautiful)

Georgia: Britain’s King George II, or Latin “georgius” and Greek “georgos” (farmer)

Hawaii: Native “hawai’i” and Proto-Polynesian “hawaiki” (place of the Gods) or “owyhee” (note same name as Idaho’s Owyhee), all meaning homeland. Originally named the Sandwich Islands, for the English Earl of Sandwich.

Illinois: French version of Algonquian “ilinwe” (warriors), or Old Ottowan “ilinouek” (ordinary speaker)

Indiana: Rather obvious; the English word (Indian) plus Latin sufix ( -ana) equals land of the Indians.

Iowa: Iowa Indians, possibly of the Aiouan family; or Dakota word “ayuxba” (sleepy ones)

Kansas: Sioux “kkáze” (people of the south wind)

Kentucky: Attributed to several Native American languages, including Shawnee (on the meadow), Seneca (at the field), and Iroquois “ken-tah-ten” (land of tomorrow)

Louisiana: Louis XIV of France (land of Louis) or Latin “ludovicus” (famous in war)

Maine: Could be nautical (mainland), or French province of Maine

Maryland: For King Charles I’s wife, Henrietta Maria; “Mary” derives (in part) from the Hebrew Miryam, Moses’ sister

Massachusetts: Algonquian “massachusett” or “messotossec” (at the large hill), or “massawachusett” (great mountain place)

Minnesota: Dakota Sioux “mnisota” (sky-tinted or cloudy water)

Mississippi: French “Messipi” pronunciation of the Ojibwe or Algonquin “Misi-ziibi” (great river)

Missouri: Chiwere (a Sioux language), possibly “wimihsoorita” (town of large canoes)

Montana: Spanish “montaña,” similar to French “montagnes” (mountains)

Nebraska: Otos Indian “ni brathge” or Omaha “ni braska” (flat water)

Nevada: Spanish “sierra nevada” (snow-covered mountains)

New Hampshire (Hampshire in England), New Jersey (a Channel Island), New Mexico, New York (in England): named for their founders’ homelands

North and South Carolina: Latin “Carolus” for King Charles II

North and South Dakota: Natives of the Plains states, “dakhota” (friendly; allies)

Ohio: Seneca-Iroquois “ohi-yo” (good river)

Oklahoma: Choctaw “okla humma” (red people)

Oregon: Possibly from a French map calling the Wisconsin River “ouaricon-sint,” or an English officer’s reference to “the River called by the Indians ‘Ourago’”

Pennsylvania: King Charles I’s way of paying his debt to Admiral William Penn. “Sylvania” is Latin for woodland.

Rhode Island: Italian “isola (island) di Rhode (red),” named for the Greek island Rhodes

Tennessee: A Cherokee village named “ta’nasi” (river)

Texas: Spanish “Tejas,” from the Caddo “teyshas” (friends)

Utah: Spanish “yuta,” indigenous Uto-Aztecan people; or Apache “yuttahih” or “yuddah” (one higher up, living in mountains)

Vermont: French “vert” (green) and “mont” (mountain)

Virginia: Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen.

Washington: For the president; Old English “estate of a man named Wassa”

Wisconsin: Possibly Chippewa “ouisconsin” (grassy place), or the Miami “meskonsing” (river running through red)

Wyoming: Eastern Algonquin Munsee “chwewamink” (large prairie or big river flat).

Apologies for any mistake-repetitions, linguistic generalizations, and guesswork here. Few of these histories are proven. Yet the plethora of Indian roots is a stark reminder of how deeply connected they are to the native peoples who inhabited and cared for these lands centuries before Europeans crossed the ocean.

As Idaho State University’s Professor Merle Wells put it, “Idaho is one of the many ‘Indian words’ supplied by the White man.”

For more about that see Professor Wells’ essay, “Origins of the Name ‘Idaho’ and How Idaho Became a Territory in 1863” at Bit.ly/38O26dY.

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.