hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2014-01-28

■ #1737. アメリカ州名の由来 [onomastics][toponymy][etymology][map]

　「#1735. カナダ州名の由来」 ([2014-01-26-1]) と「#1736. イギリス州名の由来」 ([2014-01-27-1]) に続いて，今回はアメリカの州 (state) の名前の由来を訪ねる．まずは，州境の入った地図から．
　


　語源別に50州の内訳をみると，以下のようになっている．過半数がアメリカ先住民の言語に由来する．

Number	Origin
28	American Indian
11	English
6	Spanish
3	French
1	Dutch (Rhode Island)
1	from America's own history (Washington)

　では，Crystal (145) を参照して50州名の由来をアルファベット順に示そう．

Alabama	Choctaw "I open the thicket" (i.e. clears the land)
Alaska	Inuit "great land"
Arizona	Papago "place of the small spring"
Arkansas	Sioux "land of the south wind people"
California	Spanish "earthly paradise"
Colorado	Spanish "red" (colour of the earth)
Connecticut	Mohican "at the long tidal river"
Delaware	named after English governor Lord de la Warr
Florida	Spanish "land of flowers"
Georgia	named after George II
Hawaii	Hawaiian "homeland"
Idaho	Shoshone "light on the mountain"
Illinois	Algonquian via French "warriors"
Indiana	English "land of the Indians"
Iowa	Dakota "the sleepy one"
Kansas	Sioux "land of the south wind people"
Kentucky	Iroquois "meadow land"
Louisiana	named after Louis XIV of France
Maine	named after a French province
Maryland	named after Henrietta maria, queen of Charles I
Massachusetts	Algonquian "place of the big hill"
Michigan	Chippewa "big water"
Minnesota	Dakota Sioux "sky-coloured water"
Mississippi	Chippewa "big river"
Missouri	Algonquian via French "muddy waters" (?)
Montana	Spanish "mountains"
Nebraska	Omaha "river in the flatness"
Nevada	Spanish "snowy"
New Hampshire	named after an English county
New Jersey	named after Jersey (Channel Islands)
New Mexico	named after Mexico (Aztec "war god, Mextli")
New York	named after the Duke of York
North Carolina	named after Charles II
North Dakota	Sioux "friend"
Ohio	Iroquois "beautiful water"
Oklahoma	Choctaw "red people"
Oregon	Algonquian "beautiful water" or "beaver place" (?)
Pennsylvania	named after William Penn and Latin "woodland"
Rhode Island	Dutch "red clay"
South Carolina	named after Charles II
South Dakota	Sioux "friend"
Tennessee	Cherokee settlement name, unknown origin
Texas	Spanish "allies"
Utah	Navaho "upper land" or "land of the Ute" (?)
Vermont	French "green mountain"
Virginia	named after Elizabeth I, the "virgin queen"
Washington	named after George Washington
West Virginia	named after Elizabeth I, the "virgin queen"
Wisconsin	Algonquian "grassy place" or "beaver place" (?)
Wyoming	Algonquian "place of the big flats"

（後記　2014/02/24(Mon)：アメリカ州名の学習にはこちらをどうぞ．）

　・ Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: CUP, 2003.

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