The Meaning Map of America.Some of America's most familiar names are full of hidden meaning.

[snagglepuss]

'Chicago' apparently means 'Stink Onions'

snip


New York becomes 'New Yew Tree Village', New Jersey is 'New Isle of Spears' whilst Pennsylvania apparently means 'Land of the Main Hill Wood'.

snip

'Not all translations are definitive. The reader may be offered a number of possible alternatives, or the translation may be prefixed by ‘probably’ or ‘presumably’.

The atlas shouldn't replace a scientific work about etymology, it is meant as an invitation to the people to start looking at the world through fresh eyes.





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345126/The-meaning-map-America-Missouri-land-dug-canoes-Mexico-really-means-Navel-Moon.html#ixzz2WncsBGGd
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[dimbear]

1. That sort of thing is always fun. Two faves, and these are for sure, California's Calaveras

County, Spanish for Skulls County and even today a place where weird things happen, and Oregon's Malheur County, which would be French for either sickness or unhappiness county. They, Oregonians, pronounce it completely differently from the French, but that's what it means and meant.

[Igel]

7. In a sort of time-depth, etymologically-flat way.

But words are assigned new meanings all the time, and some are just taken to have humans as referents.

Otherwise we wind up having to say that the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was "the son of life, honored by God."

Gee, that makes me consider him in a totally new perspective. Not.

Let's get real here.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. Malheur County is named for the Malheur River, which was indeed named for misfortunes that befell

fur trappers there in early days. It was given the French name intentionally.

[ChazII]

2. Thanks for sharing. Arizona

name I first learned about from Reading Rainbow.

[DreamGypsy]

3. 'Chicago' apparently means 'Stink Onions' ...

- doesn't quite have the same charm as the 'Windy City' does it?

No, but if you, your family, and your friends eat enough stink onions you will discover an obvious connection to the name "windy city".

[snagglepuss]

4. LOLOL That is briiliant.

Thansk for the laugh. Really needed it.

[DreamGypsy]

6. Thank you.

I was pleased to discover that I lived in a state called Beautiful Land near the town of Wellborn.

[RobertEarl]

5. Grand Tetons

Yep, big ones

[DreamGypsy]

9. Hoary Headed Fathers

From Teton range peak names: http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$2802

Grand Teton Highest mountain in the Teton Range. Named by French trappers. Upon viewing the Teton Range from the west, the trappers dubbed the South, Middle, and Grand, Les Trois Tetons, meaning ”the three breasts.” Wilson Price Hunt called them ”Pilot Knobs” in 1811 because he had used them for orientation while crossing Union Pass. In his Journal of a Trapper, Osborne Russel said that the Shoshone Indians named the peaks ”Hoary Headed Fathers.”

But there is some controversy, from Wikipedia Grand Teton:

The origin of the name is controversial. The most common explanation is that "Grand Teton" means "large teat" in French, named by either French-Canadian or Iroquois members of an expedition led by Donald McKenzie of the North West Company. However, other historians disagree, and claim that the mountain was named after the Teton Sioux tribe of Native Americans.

From Historical Origins of Mountain Names in Yellowstone:

Grand Teton
(largest mountain of present day Grand Teton National Park, south of Mt. Moran). The name has existed for the mountain since at least the beginning of the nineteenth century. The origin of the name refers to the Teton Sioux. Where that name originates is unknown by me. In 1872, the United States Geological Survey renamed the mountain, Mt. Hayden. Local use never accepted the new name. And, although the name Mt. Hayden appeared on some maps for many years (even apparently during Chittenden's time), the name Grand Teton stuck. Dr. Hayden himself, personally disapproved of the name Mt. Hayden for the mountain.

[Art_from_Ark]

8. I thought "Pennsylvania" meant "Penn's Woods" or "Penn's Forest"

Named after William Penn, the founder of the Commonwealth, with the Latin word silva (sylva) for "woods" or "forest"

[snagglepuss]

12. I believe the name refers to the one used by Indians.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Perhaps

But the Indian word (whatever tribe that might have been) for Pennsylvania did not become the name of the state, and is not a familiar name. At the same time, they give the proper translations of the Spanish names Colorado and Nevada, rather than the Indian names, as well as the translation of Montana, which I believe the Blackfeet Indians called the "Land of the Big Sky" rather than "Mountainous". The Carolinas were named after King Charles ("Carolus" in Latin), while Virginia was named after the "Virgin Queen " (Elizabeth I). I really think they were just making up some of these translations.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. They're taking the etymology back further

As they did in the explanation for New York - they went to a (possible) original meaning of 'York'. So, for Washington, although we know that's named after George W., they've looked for the original meaning of Washington, which is a town in north-east England: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_Tyne_and_Wear

So, for Pennsylvania, the 'sylvan' means 'woods'; 'Penn', they propose, means 'main hill' - as in Pen-y-Ghent, for instance, I suppose. The Carolinas are after Charles/Carolus, so you then try to find where Charles comes from - Wikipedia says 'free man'. Their use of 'free woman' is a bit dubious - 'Carolina' may correspond ezactly with a female form of the name, but history does say it was named after the king. For Georgia:

From the Greek name ???????? (Georgios) which was derived from the Greek word ??????? (georgos) meaning "farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements ?? (ge) "earth" and ????? (ergon) "work".

http://www.behindthename.com/name/george

[lpbk2713]

11. Orlando = Land of the Famous One

Mickey?

[Scurrilous]

14. Kick

[LeftInTX]

16. Cool!!!

Interesting about Mexico's name.