Hit me with some more interesting US place name origins. Comment below. And remember you can get TypeAI PREMIUM now! Start your FREE trial by clicking the link here: bit.ly/Mar24RobWords
I am disappointed in seeing your use of AI generated images, and taking a sponsorship from a generative AI company. The amount of energy wastage, stolen artwork, and unethical business practices that goes into these image generators are way too high for any "benefit" they may have to a workflow. You are also using them to depict historical events and people, in which there are plenty of images and references that accurately depicts your historical references already available through stock photos. So choosing to use generated images that are known to create inaccuracies is baffling to me.
I'm from Fall River where there are many native American names still of the streets n rivers but it is called Fall River because the native Americans called it that cause many many hills n many river n streams n ponds that end up in the Taunton river n if u day dream when you look at all the now paved hills you can see why it's call "falling rivers" or now it is Fall River Massachusetts in fact the quecachan river still flows through the entire city n ends up in the Taunton river n my good friend from Taiwan who is a chemistry professor at UMass says we have some of the best tap water in the world n this city was mostly French Canadian then mostly saint Michael's accoreana which is the southern most island of the islands of accoreze owned by Portugal n it's common for us who well basically me n everyone my age have parents who were born in the accoreana soa Miguel we tattoo a 5 digit from a die or pair of dice in the middle of our thumb n pointer finger on the backhand of our left or right hand also the city has a "rolling rock" that is massive deposited by the retreat of glacier its a massive rock but it forms to a little point n looks like it will tip , other than that n a lot of native american names n old mills n factories , its not a must see
TONS of Welsh ones in the area of the old Barony in Pennsylvania. Might be interesting for you to look at Welsh place names around the world? Pennsylvania, Patagonia, maybe someplace else starting with P ...
About Vermont not being Montvert: there is evidence that when French and a Germanic language come into contact, sometimes placenames undergo a switch of word order, e.g. Neufchâteau (Belgium) or Neuchâtel (Switzerland). In some corner cases, French adjectives also come before the noun (e.g. "petit"), which is also thought to be a Germanic influence.
Another interesting aspect of Vermont’s name is that it was first called New Connecticut by a convention of the leaders of a rebellion against… the colony of New York. It’s a fascinating piece of U.S. history that I can’t summarize properly here, but worth looking up. At the time, most of the European settlers to the land had come from Connecticut Colony, and named the towns they founded after places in Connecticut (Windsor, Hartford, New Haven, etc.) My understanding is that the name was changed to Vermont to avoid confusion with the old Connecticut. The intention was always to join the other colonies, and eventually states. But New York did not allow it until 1791, and only after Vermont gave some of the disputed land back. During that time, Vermont had to sort out its identity as an independent place. Samuel de Champlain was the first European to see the lands that are now called Vermont and described them as « green mountains » (in French, of course). The rebels knew this, and named themselves the Green Mountain Boys. All this to say, I bet your theory is right, but it’s at least plausible that a group of Anglophone backwoods men would take the story about de Champlain and end up naming their new home in broken French.
my theory is that Vermont comes from the French vers les monts (towards the mountains or hills), and was slowly condensed over time by English speakers, but no one will ever know!@@OaxBratt
It's not a matter of corner cases. In French, like in Italian, there's not a fixed position for adjectives, so there's plenty of cases where they come before the name. Cf. Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) or simple common sentences like "C'est une belle femme" (She's a beautiful woman). In fact, in reference to your examples, neuf/neuve and nouveau/nouvelle (slightly different ways to say "new") almost always come before the name (mon nouveau travail, sa nouvelle voiture, le nouveau film de Tarantino), but the art movement is called Art Nouveau and in Paris there's the Pont Neuf (just like in Florence there's Ponte Vecchio, but we usually say "un vecchio amico" /an old friend or "una nuova vita" / a new life, and Fellini's movie is "La dolce vita"). (In fact, in some cases the position changes the meaning, because "un vecchio amico" means a friend we've known for a long time, while "un amico vecchio" means a friend who is old of age).
The most fun theory of how Oregon got its name comes from the 1945 book "Names on the Land" by George R. Stewart. As the story goes, a French explorer in 1715 made a map where he labeled an upper tributary of the Mississippi the "Ouisconsinc" (this would later be Anglicized as "Wisconsin"). But a careless scribe back in France created a copy of the map where he mistakenly changed "Ouisconsinc" to "Ouariconsint." The copier also ran out of room, so he put the "sint" underneath the rest of the word, with a hyphen. Subsequent copiers missed the "sint" entirely, leaving "Ouaricon." Eventually, in the minds of explorers, "Wisconsin" and "Ouaricon" became two distinct rivers: one the existing Wisconsin River we know today, the other a great, mythical river that we will surely find if we just keep going west. But they pushed all the way to the Pacific and didn't find the river, so they named the coastal region they'd found after the nonexistent river. Only by this time the name of the river had morphed from Ouaricon to Ouragon to Ourgan to Ourigan to-you guessed it-Oregon. So Oregon is literally just the word Wisconsin after a long game of telephone.
but he says in the video that the columbia river was originally called the oregon river and the state named after the river, so maybe they found that mythical river. i bet that was exciting for whoever found it.
from the "oregon river" theory and the sheer amount of river naming for things we can perhaps find a native american language with a distant relation to Warao/venezuela, which named the famous Orinoco river.
There is ZERO chance that you can be anywhere near the Pacific northwest corner of the US (and/or the southwest corner of Canada) and not find the Columbia River. It's the dominating natural feature of the area. Doesn't matter if you're native, Spanish, French, English or Martian. It's more likely that the name derives from a food that was traded inland by native peoples living along the Columbia that was based on ground fish, called _ooligan._ This word was known to be associated with the entire Columbia basin. This is seen even in the English name for the region, the Oregon _territory._ If you figure that the state takes it's name from the river, and that the river bore the name of a widely traded foodstuff that originated from it, and that the entire region was was associated with the foodstuff, it starts to come together. One thing is almost certain though. The name ultimately derives from native sources, not European. If it had a European origin, it's etymology would be much clearer. Considering how much native language has been lost in the last 200 - 300 years, it's reasonable to believe a native origin (oregon?)
@@TestUser-cf4wj That sounds plausible. As I said, the book that story is from is pretty old; many American soldiers brought copies of it with them to Europe and the Pacific to remind them of home. But while the origin stories in it are fun, I imagine a lot of them have since been disproven by later, more careful research. That said, I don't know that we're ever going to get a definitive smoking gun for the etymology of Oregon. There are too many competing theories at this point.
A point about the name of Vermont and the possibility of it coming from French with a strange word order: French actually does reverse noun and adjective order quite often when it comes to place names and more generally for poetic reasons, or at least it used to. It's a feature that has dropped from modern French, but might still have been commonplace back then. I can totally picture the French looking at said mountains and calling it "le Vert-Mont"
Absolutely. The reverse order in French is a feature of literature, but also in the popular language with some adjectives, like beau, bon, grand, petit, etc.. Examples: Other French names formed in this way: Beauport, Beaufort, Belmont, Beaulieu, Grand-Pré, Vieux Carré, Neufchâtel, Neuville, etc….
On Oregon: According to the records of the state, "The first written record of the name "Oregon" comes to us from a 1765 proposal for a journey written by Major Robert Rogers, an English army officer. It reads, "The rout... is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon." Also, the name was originally applied to the entire region, in 1848 the United States Congress approved the formation of the Oregon Territory. At the time, the Oregon Territory included all the present day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and even parts of Montana and Wyoming. The route the homesteaders (pioneers) followed through a pass in the northern Rockies and along the Snake and Columbia Rivers to reach the Pacific coast was called the Oregon Trail.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest they hammer you with the history of the Oregon Trail, Lewis and Clark, and various local tribes and Wild West towns that still exist today. My school even held a play, multiple years in a row, where we acted out different pioneer scenarios and sang songs about them. I still have some lines memorized: Lewis: It's Lewis and Clark! Clark: That's Clark and Lewis! Both: Going down the trail to see what we can find!~ It was a while before I learned anything about any state beyond the PNW, let alone any other countries.
Another possible origin of the name Oregon is from the smelt, a small greasy fish traded throughout the west known to the natives as ooligan or oorigan. This is just another theory being explored.
@@StereoSpace Wow, what a blast from the past! Yes, my teacher had dozens of copies and handed them out for us to read aloud from during class. I didn't remember the title when you said it, but googling it gave me such a nostalgia trip seeing the cover. Wild!
Same thing with the Vermont accent is basically this but everyone is super focused on the first half of each word infact when I moved out it was super jarring hearing everyone stressing the last letters of every word so harshly I always get an aneurysm every time I hear someone say vermonT like dude chill
I wish Rob had gone into more detail about California. It is true that California was named for a mythical island in a picaresque Spanish novel published in the early 1500s popular with Spanish explorers at the time. When the Spanish explorers spotted Baja California, the modern name for the Mexican region, they thought the very long peninsula was an island off the Mexican mainland. Thus why the peninsula was named after this mythical island, California. Only about 50 years later did other Spanish explorers realize the peninsula was attached to the mainland. And that's when they renamed the peninsula "Baja California" or "Lower California" and the land to the north "Alta California" or "Upper California." Alta California was ceded to the U.S. in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War of 1848. The American settlers living there opted to drop the "Alta" from California so that Mexico would not have a claim to the land in the future. Hence the modern name of the state.
Do the same with Canadian provinces and territories. I live in Nova Scotia, New Scotland, but there’s tons of English, German, Irish, Danish, even Icelandic people here.
@@Hisscreeper46 I got confused- but did Canada (sometime in the past 10 years- see "International Relations" by Studio C, where I think one of them mentions 11 and not just 10) actually have 11?
@@wyattstevens8574As a Canadian, no. It used to have two territories but now it has three, and they are basically provinces these days, but its number of provinces hasn't changed since 1949, when Newfoundland joined.
I almost didn’t watch this, because I’ve seen other channels cover the topic, but this is definitely the best one. Well done, from the Four Corners region.
Etymology of U.S. Territories & The Federal District: Puerto Rico: Rich Port (Spanish) Guam: What We Have (Chamorro, "Guahan") American Samoa: Place of the moa (Maori) U.S. Virgin Islands: Named for St. Ursula Northern Mariana Islands: Named for Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria Washington D.C.: President Washington, District of Columbia (Columbia is a Poetic name for the U.S., named after Christopher Columbus) Etymology of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands: Baker Island: Named for Michael Baker (Nicknamed, New Nantucket)(Hawaiian laborers named Baker Island "Paukeaho", meaning "out of breath") Howland Island: Named Howland after the lookout who spotted it (Originally named Worth by a whaling ship's captain) Jarvis Island: Named for Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis (Nicknamed, Bunker Island) Johnston Atoll: Named for Captain Charles James Johnston Kingman Reef: Named for Captain W. E. Kingman (Previously charted as, Caldew Reef and Maria Shoal) Midway Atoll: Midway is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia (Hawaiian, "Kuaihelani", the backbone of heaven, & "Pihemanu", The loud din of birds) Palmyra Atoll: Named for U.S. trading ship Palmyra (Itself named for the ancient Syrian city) Wake Island: Named for either Captain Samuel Wake or Captain William Wake (Marshallese, "Ānen Kio", island of the kio flower) Navassa Island: Named Navaza from Spanish for plain or flat (French, "Île de la Navasse", Haitian Creole, "Lanavaz") Etymology of U.S. Compact of Free Association Nations: Marshall Islands: Islands of the Marshallese (Marshallese, "Ṃajeḷ") Micronesia: The region of small islands (Italian) Palau: Village (Palauan, "Belau" or "Beluu")
This is a good summary of the names of the territories, Minor Outlying Islands, and the associated states! Also, Guam's "what we have" reminded me of some of the states with Native American names (which are often self-referential, such as the "allies in Texas and the Dakotas), while the Northern Mariana Islands is of the same genre of names as Virginia, Maryland, or Lousiana. Thanks for the added information!
@@dr.atlantis2194means a lot of things could be "yummy" if you talk about a food, could be "rich, wealthy" if you talk about money, could be "a lot of..." If you talk about concentration "Rico en azucar" (have a lot of sugar), etc. .... Could be a lot of thing but in this case it would be"wealthy port or rich port" (in terms of natural resources, gold, silver, fish, etc).... Spanish is my mother tongue Greetings bro 👍
@@dr.atlantis2194Rico like "beautiful" sounds weird maybe could be a slang in central America in places, but it's not used in that way... Something beautiful is "lindo", "bello", "hermoso", "precioso", "bonito", etc
In French, the word order is not important for places names: you have cities named Rougemont as well as Montrouge, Francheville as well as Villefranche, etc So Vert Mont doesn't sound so weird to me as a Frenchman Also Vert Mont would be the better word order for a poetic name, and Mont Vert would sound very descriptive and not poetic at all
Thanks a lot Rob, I like etymologie and yours videos are huge sources of knowledge for this. Besides I almost understand everything you say, thanks to your clear oral expression and good English accent. Cheers from France.
Thank you for the video! I request you please use the least amount of AI imaging in your videos. It is more enjoyable to view images which are not AI generated!
My mother, from rural Ireland, pronounced Arkansas by adding "Ar" to the beginning of the state name Kansas, until I corrected her. She said that's how she was taught to pronounce it in school.
Caliphate - California 🤯😆!?! I don't think I can ever unhear/ unsee that (and it was in plain sight all the time!). And I'll have to tell that now to everyone.
@@kxmode No, it's Middle Earth but in Spanish with fake Arabic sprinkled throughout to make it feel mystical and timeless. California appears to be a Spanish name using this fake Arabic. Just like how nowadays "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" are novels in English with fake Celtic sprinkled throughout to make them feel mystical and timeless.
18:23 ''ever since someone pointed out that Montana looks like it's whispering sweet nothings into Idaho’s ear, I can’t unsee it.'' Surprised that, in the same vein, you didn't mention MIMAL: ''the elf created by the borders of the states that make up its name (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana). The image also includes Kentucky and Tennessee to make it appear that Mimal is cooking chicken, with Kentucky serving as the chicken and Tennessee as the pan.''
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg officially known as Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake in Massachusetts. It has the longest name of any land mark in the US It translates roughly from the nipmuc language to "fishing place at the boundary" Up until 2020 the official name of Rhode Island was State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Providence plantations being the City of Providence.
And, I'll point out that the population of the Providence metro area is higher than the population of the state (because much of the metro area is actually in nearby Massachusetts).
Rhode Island's name originally referred to Aquidneck Island (southern part of the state where city of Newport is), named by early explorers who compared its appearance to the Greek island of Rhodes. The name later extended to the entire state, formally known as "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," but recently shortened to "State of Rhode Island" in 2020 to avoid associations with the term "plantations."
I believe the term island was given to the land because the settlers of the state were fleeing religious prosecution and separated them selves from the rest of the land like an island. Not religious prosecution from Europe though but from those living in Connecticut. This would be why the state is so small as well being that it was just a small group of people wishing to separate themselves from the rest of the land compared to the other colonies.
@@carlosfontanez9804 The original Rhode Island colony that we got our name from was on Aquidneck Island… Also, fun fact. All of the land in Roger Williams’ Providence colony was legally purchased from the natives. Providence Rhode Island is one of the few places that isn’t stolen land.
Yes but the settlement was called Rhode island not from the name of the land but from the purpose it was built for. Otherwise it would have been called Aquidneck Island. I believe it was separated from the colonies not entirely by land but purposefully isolated ideologically and physically like an island would be to keep naysayers from invading and encroaching on them. Intentionally isolated to avoid prosecution. Maybe I am wrong but that is the version of colonial settlement I was taught. In that sense the settlement felt like an island among the other colonies. It is somewhat up to interpretation but that level of isolation may have attracted others who were also aligned with it's purpose.@@isaacevilman7586
Well done, Rob. I rather enjoyed this, and I appreciate the amount of research that was required to put this together. I was particularly appreciative of the fact that you got the Aleut name of Alaska correct, that meaning. It's one of the few languages which have verbs as opposed to a lot of nouns. Sentences and constructions are all spoken of in terms of processes, whether they are completed, ongoing, or to happen in the future. This is true also of the Diné language, the language of the Navajo. I am not sure of other verb-oriented languages, but I'm sure these are not the only two examples. But the name of Alaska is particularly illustrative of this type of focus. I suspect that there might have been, in the Indo-Iranian languages, a sub-part that was oriented around processes as opposed to nouns. The reason why I'm curious about this possibility is the Buddhist notion that we are three agglomerations of processes. There are processes that relate to thought and the brain, processes related to the heart and the soul, and processes devoted to the physical. Processes can be completed in the past, be ongoing to be completed soon, or ongoing to be completed in the future. But that notion of there being no self, because we're not a unit but a collection of three collections of processes. I grew up in New York State, particularly downstate New York, meaning on Long Island, and then there's Manhattan and the lower part of the mainland. We have a large number of Dutch place names. We have, for example, the Sawkill, which is a kill or a creek that a sawmill was associated with at one time. So there are all these different Dutch words present in New York State, as well as places which are still named after Dutch aristocrats. Growing up on Long Island, I am extremely aware of many places that are based on Algonquin and Iroquois names. Well, there's one that I'm remembering offhand, Quaquogue, but there are lotd others. I couldn't tell you what they meant. I was just very much aware growing up that we had all these Native American names.
Wisconsin’s Menominee name is Wēskōhsaeh (way-skoH-seh) by the way. Not wekohsaeh. I’m not sure if you made a typo or if your source had put it down wrong. I would just like to say that as an omāēqnomenēweqnaesew (Menominee speaker). Though as a language enthusiast, I really appreciate this video! Combined with correct spelling and French pronunciation, I think our language might be where the name comes from. Waewaenen!
I am a 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝑨𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆 living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa is a Muskogee/Creek word meaning a gathering place. I found your video fascinatingly educational. Thank you so much for your wonderful intellectual research. Your intellect won me as a subscriber. Thank you again, for the fun vlog!
For Minnesota, according to Šišókaduta, a Dakota language instructor at the university of Minnesota: "A literal translation would be clear water," Šišókaduta said. "But what it ... really refers to is where the waters reflect the skies, because the water is clear and still." Some people interpret that as the source of the cloudy water - it’s simply water reflecting clouds. I’ve always heard it translated as “water that reflects the sky,” and I thought that was such a beautiful name for our state. The land of the waters that reflect the sky.
Why don’t you like the clouds?? Clouds save in the heat, clouds are a source of heavenly water, the clouds themselves are beautiful and not banal, like the ordinary, unpoetic, plain blue sky.🙄🙄🙄😬
I wondered about that too because sometimes the waters will be so still it feels like you’re canoeing in the sky. And sometimes it’s so windy, the breaking waves feels like you’re boating through the clouds, so I guess it could go either way lol.
you left out part of California: fornia. it's from the archaic spanish for "furnace" (forno), so the full name is "kalifa's furnace(s)," keeping in mind that the legendary amazons wore golden armor, hence the reference. KEvron
I really enjoyed this catagorical presentation format. At first I was confused why you weren't going by sequential admittance to the Union. Great video! Thanks.
Interesting is also, why it's the "New York YANKEES"! Yankee is the english version (pronunciation) of the (quite typical) dutch name Janke, which translates to little John. So it was the City of the (dutch) Jankes, bc. NY was New Amsterdam in the beginning. 😅
In a marginally connected tangent: I'm currently in a show about the history of Samut Prakan, which is the area around the mouth of The Chaophraya River as it flows into The Gulf of Thailand. Before doing this show I was completely unaware that region was also named New Amsterdam, due to the Dutch traders who settled there.
We were taught in Connecticut that "Yankee" came from the Dutch pronunciation of an English insult at the time. The insult was to call someone a "John Key", which the CT settlers called the Dutch. They in return would reply to the CT settlers in their pronunciation and call them "Jahn Key". And it stuck.
@@stevetalkstoomuch No, it's not Jahn/John Key. It's really just Ja(h)n-ke, little John. Which in itself is/is meant as an insult. Calling grown men "little.." is mostly not taken too well. The ending "-ke" in Dutch (and northern Germany) is marking a diminutive. In middle Germany it's "-che(n)" and in the south "le". In Swisse, even more south it's "li". Perterke, Peterche(n), Peterle, Peterli. Janke, Janche(n), Janle, Janli. 🤷♀️
The story I heard was that Yankee or Yankees comes from Jan Kees meaning John Cheese, an insult Dutch colonists in New Netherlands had for their neighbors in New England. As for how the baseball team in the Bronx got its name, the team was originally called the Highlanders, probably in reference to the fact that their original 1903 ballpark sat on the highest elevation in Manhattan. (It's now the sight of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.) Eventually, in 1912, the ball club moved into the Polo Grounds on the Harlem River, sharing it with Giants, before moving into their own stadium on the opposite bank in 1923. While still at the Polo Grounds, sportswriters began calling the team by the nickname Yankees, possibly because of the number of New Englanders playing on the team at the time.
Stellar work as always, Rob! Speaking of things you can’t unsee - Montana might be whispering to Idaho, but what about the giant chef (Minnesota hat, Iowa head, Missouri belly, Arkansas pants, Luisiana boots) holding a Tennessee pan and frying some Kentucky chicken. Try and unsee THAT. :D
Colorado the river was initially named the Grand river, hence Grand Canyon and Grand Junction. The Colorado River did not go through the eponymous state. In earlier nomenclature, the Colorado River began at its confluence with the Green River. Above the confluence, Colorado was called the Grand River. July 25th, 1921, Congress passed House Joint Resolution 460, which officially changed the name of the Grand River to the Colorado River to appease the Coloradans.
Came here to explain the same thing. When Colorado was named, they didn't even know the river was there. Colorado Territory was named after Old Colorado City, which was named after the red rocks in the area. Garden of the Gods being the best example. The river was named Colorado in California, since it is red when full of silt. It starts in Grand Lake, largest lake in the state, and was named the Grand River. Hence Grand Junction Colorado and Grand Canyon. Only later did they figure out it was the same river as the Colorado.
Great video! I’m an American and for a long time I’ve been able to tell you at least what language or culture almost every state name comes from, but I don’t usually know the original meaning of the words, particularly the Native American and Spanish derived names. Once again, great vid!
So interesting! I never knew about that silent "C" in Connecticut until I saw this. I am so glad I stumbled across your channel recently while meandering around RUclips! Thank you!
One thing about Maryland-----yes, the state is officially named after Henrietta Maria and Charles I did say that she was to be referred in English as "Queen Mary", but that's not the whole story. The colony/province of Maryland was intended to be a haven where English Catholics could practice their faith more freely, and I strongly suspect "Henrietta Maria" was merely an excuse to name the state after the "Mary" they really wanted to honor, which was the Virgin Mary, or the "St. Mary" where Maryland's first settlement and capital was founded in 1634. It might be just a coincidence, but if I'm right, openly declaring that the colony would be named after the Virgin Mary would have been a very bad mistake. Pope John Paul II visited Maryland in 1995 to honor the bicentennial of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which was the first Catholic diocese in the United States. All this could mean that both Virginia and Maryland are named after....wait for it....virgin queens.
Bingo. Rob's sources are sadly lacking. Maryland was set up as a place for those pesky Pope kneelers (Mary statue praying people) to live. The R.C.'s were not wanted anywhere. Rhode Island was for Baptists. Virginia was for Anglicans. Pennsylvania for Quakers. Georgia started as a penal colony. Mass. & Conn. were "Congregational" colonies. The Carolinas had Presbyterians and some Baptists. New York & New Jersey were mostly Dutch Reformed folks. Delaware had some Swedish Lutherans.
Thanks, Rob. I found your channel while looking for state name origins that I could use to teach English to Brazilians. Very well-researched and entertaining. Thanks to everyone else, too, who provided clarifications in the comments.
About Vermont, it's quite common in French to inverse the adjective, "les vertes collines" (the green hills) or "les vertes contrées" (the green country side) are poetic inversions you hear often, "le vert mont" would be well in line with these.
Regarding Oklahoma meaning "people + red", one thing can't be underestimated/disregarded and that is the famous red soil in Oklahoma. Its color is so well known they're known as the 'red dirt state' due to the PORT in the soil (high in iron) (and fun side note there's a music genre "Red Dirt Music" specifically referring to Oklahoma music). As many Native American tribes referred to themselves as the people, and this regions soil is quite famous, I would urge you to reconsider the rather negative connotations implied in this video.
I did notice that the English guy making the making video seemed to cringe and almost spit when he gave to meaning of the word. People + red,,,, very simple, nothing to cringe about. For decades there was a brand of chewing tobacco in a pouch labeled "Red Man" and it had an "Injun" with a feathered head bonnet. I served in the U.S. military with an Apache from New Mexico. He proudly called himself a "Redman". Take note Mr. Rob words!
While I'm not sure if it's still in practice, red was represented on the medicine wheel to represent the indigenous race. Though, I feel in the past decade it might no longer be looked at that way. Then again, the medicine wheel might have been "augmented" to have a Carlisle friendly representation.
@@gusloader123 I am a dual tribal member of both Osage Nation and Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and am not offended by Rob's conjecture, as he is clearly sympathetic to the forced removal of so many of us Indigenous Americans to Oklahoma (although us Wahzhazhe were already there). His cringing was in response to our poor treatment at the hands of colonizers, which is apparent in the rest of the commentary ribbing the settlers throughout the video.
This isn't inaccurate at all, and has nothing to do with the red soil. Okla is referring to the Choctaw word "people" and homa referring to the Choctaw word "red" and is translated as red people. Recently, there have been arguments that the different definitions would insinuate it means "brave people" or "Brave Nation" but that is a modern translation. My native speaking Mississippi Choctaw friend who used to work at the White House as a Native American Liason was proud of the Oklahoma name, and is where my information comes from.
There's nothing negative about it. They were referred to as "red" by themselves and others. What's so wrong about that? I think you're imposing your modern sensitivities into the past. Nobody had an issue with referring to people's appearance back then. Europeans were called "white men", and natives were called "red men". There's no moral judgement there, just a basic observation about a slight difference in appearance. It's not referring to the soil, that's a serious cope.
Hi, Rob! I am Osage and Cherokee, so I greet you with their respective words for hello: Haweh and Osiyo. I thank you for being so sympathetic and informative about us Indigenous Americans and will close with thank you in Osage and Cherokee: Thali and wado!
I read that Rhode Island was possibly named "Roodt Eylandt" by a Dutch explorer, meaning "Red Island" after the red clay shoreline. Eventually it would either be misunderstood and/or Anglicized to Rhode Island, likely since people were already familiar with the Isle of Rhodes. I'm not sure how accurate this story is or if it's just apocryphal, but I thought I'd share.
@@adamcetinkent Not exactly. The video seems to suggest that the etymology is either the Dutch name OR being named directly after the Isle of Rhodes. I was just trying to clarify that to my understanding nobody thought Rhode Island or any part of it looked like the Isle of Rhodes and nobody initially meant to name it after the island in the Aegean, but that the name itself was appropriated simply for it's familiarity to the primarily English-speaking colonists who either misunderstood the existing Dutch name or just found it too cumbersome to say.
For Louisiana, our welcome signs include Bienvenue en Louisiane. We love to hold onto our French heritage, and still operate under the old Napoleonic Code.
There was a joke at the time that where the California Trail split from the Oregon Trail, one signboard said “Oregon” and the other had a picture of a gold nuggets. Thus the literate went to Oregon.
I'm from a town in California named Auburn. Au is the element name for Gold and burn is well, burn. I know it's just a lil jokie joke but it works because Auburn was like a main hub for the gold rush here.
Some say Oregon is derived from the native word describing trade goods trail. Fish oil was a trade good called “oolaghin” when the area was settled by the newcomers it became anglicized to “orygun.” This is just a thought some linguists have pondered.
Interesting theories on Hawaii both of which are, for the most part, accepted by the Native Hawaiians. Well at least the ones I’ve spoken to. A bit of an addendum to both Hawaii origin theories. 1) Hawaiiloa was said to arrive from the east coast of “the land with the Yellow Sea” or “ka aina o ke Kai Melemele” in the Hawaiian language. The ruler of that land (or maybe just a chief) was his brother named Kanaloa. Interestingly, the only islands within Polynesia that has a Yellow Sea are the Samoan Islands, to be specific, the Manu’a group of islands on the eastern edge of the Samoan archipelago, and within the Manu’a group is an island called Ta’ū. There on the east coast of Ta’ū is the “Tai Samasama” or the “Yellow Sea” in the Samoan language. Tagaloalagi (“Tagaloa of the heavens”, Tagaloa being the original form of the Hawaiian cognate Kanaloa) is the supreme god of the Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti islands, etc. is said to have originated on Ta’ū island. Back in Hawaii, there is a district (similar to shires of England) where the first landing spot is located. That district is now called Ka’ū, which seems like a cognate of Ta’ū. 2) Hawai’i (Hawaiki, Havai’i, Savai’i) as the homeland of Polynesians, eastern Polynesians to be more specific. Although the Polynesians as a whole share very similar culture and language, there are some clear differences between the western Polynesians and eastern Polynesians, mainly the god they placed as their supreme god amongst their local pantheon of gods. The western Polynesians (Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, Niue, Tuvalu to name a few) worshipped the god named Tagaloalagi, or a god that is descended or attached to him. For the western Polynesians, their ancestral homeland is known as Pulotu. The eastern Polynesians (Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Native Maori of New Zealand) worshipped a god named Tāne (or Kāne). It is only them that hold Hawaiki or Havai’i as their ancestral home. Note: although Tahiti is linguistically, culturally, and geographically considered eastern Polynesian, they are the only ones that hold Kanaloa (Ta’aroa in their language) as their supreme god. According to Tupaia, the Tahitian navigator that aided James Cook in his discovery of the Polynesian islands, Savai’i (the largest island in the Samoan group) is the “father of all Havai’i” and the mythical homeland to which the eastern Polynesians say they come from.
You've left out the hypothesis that the first Hawaiiens came from what is now British Columbia. I don't remember all the strong cultural and linguistic links, but I do remember that it's been proven that it's a natural sailing option given currents, rain and migrant bird paths. Also the Haida have an intersting story and tradition that gives extra weight to the hypothesis, when you add all up it becomes hard to dismiss.
@@ottodidakt3069 I’ve heard that one too. But to be honest, neither myself nor Hawaiians that I am familiar with buy into that hypothesis at all. Genetic, linguistic, and cultural differences are too great to ignore.
I'm NZ Maori and for us and most Polynesians the supreme atua (god/element) changed with the season. This is why James Cook was treated kindly during his stay in Hawaii originally but was killed on his return, the season and therefore supreme atua had changed. Your information is very good, you very much know your stuff. Tena koe
@@ottodidakt3069 So, I'm no linguist, but I did take a year of Hawaiian in college, and looking at the Wikipedia page for the Haida language they look very different. For just a few examples, Haida can end a syllable in one or more consonants, which is not a feature of Hawaiian or closely-related Polynesian languages. Haida also has around three times as many consonants as Hawaiian, whereas Polynesian languages all tend to have similar (relatively small) numbers of consonants (and it's clear where consonant substitutions have been made between them). While Hawaiian is very obviously part of the Polynesian language family, the scholarly consensus is that Haida is either a language isolate or part of the North American Na-Dené family. It's not too unusual to find superficial similarities between unrelated languages; for instance, 'kahuna' ('priest') in Hawaiian is very similar to the word for priest in Hebrew, and 'pau' means 'finished' in both Hawaiian and Greek (as a root, it wouldn't appear on its own).
7:44 One of the ways we Americans tell if someone is from our home place is if the person knows the correct native pronunciation of the name as well as the standard (mis-)pronunciation. (added in editing) For example, my home city of Wichita, Kansas is pronounced like witch-ih-tah (accented first syllable), and those of us from there know that it's named after the "wi-shee-tah" (accent on the second syllable) tribe.
That's true! I also feel some towns take pride in having a unique pronunciation even in English, like Mentor, Ohio being pronounced "Menner" by locals.
Two guys from New Jersey are driving through Texas and stop at a Dairy Queen in Mexia. They cannot figure out how to say the name. MEX-ee-a? Me-KHEE-a? (It's actually pronounced Me-HAY-a.) So they ask the girl at the counter "How do you say the name of this place?" She asks "Where are y'all from?" "New Jersey". She leans forward and says slowly "D-a-i-r-y Q-u-e-e-n..."
Further to the OP, in Houston you know someone isn't from around here if they pronounce the nearby town of Humble just like the adjective. The "H" in the town's name is actually silent.
It’s how we tell how long someone has lived in the Pacific Northwest too. How does your new friend say Puyallup or Dosewallips? Have they been camping at Humptulips or by the Skookumchuck yet? Can they find their own way to Steilacoom? 🤣
OK so regarding Hampshire. The ham actually comes from Southampton and the location of it in an "area enclosed by a river", 2 in fact, the Test and the Itchen. The first name of the settlement was Hamwic with the wic meaning "trading area" it being a port 'n' all. As it gained importance the name was changed to Hamtun and the wider administrative area Hamtunscir. One of the earliest known uses of scir was when Hamtunscir was mentioned in records in 755CE. It was recorded as Hantescire in the Domesday book (Southampton as Hantune) and apparently the p was first used in later additions to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The South was later added to Hampton to differentiate it from other similarly named places, most notably Northampton. The shire never got that added whereas Northamptonshire does exist, probably because Northampton already had its North (Northantone in Domesday) when it gave its name to the Shire. Fun fact: George Washington's Great-grandfather emigrated from Northamptonshire and an earlier ancestor was mayor of Northampton!
@@lucylane7397 Yes, that's where the surname comes from, but one of the descendents of the first person to take that name moved to Lancashire in the early 14th century and then one of his descendents moved to Northamptonshire. In an ironic twist the family was loyal to King Charles during the civil war and the fact that they lost their property as punishment after he lost may have been a factor in George's Great-grandfather leaving for the New World!
Thanks for inspiring me to get into languages. im not planning to study linguistics or anything, im just way more interested in learning languages than before
There are a lot of videos about all the state names but this is by far the best one! Also, I grew up playing sports in school here in Ohio and at state tournaments I’d always wonder why we had a “Wyoming” school district (and city, apparently). Now I know and makes a lot more sense 😊👍
Idaho man here! I’m not sure how confident you are about the name of Idaho. It has been my understanding that the name was somewhat made up and slapped on by the senate. Surprisingly, I do not recall learning about the names origin during state history class (although we are not known for our education). Here’s a fun tidbit though: the nickname of Idaho is “The Gem State”. Very appropriate for the mining operation you mentioned. It is actually a treasure trove of precious and semi precious gems.
I have also heard/read that the name Idaho was an entirely made-up name meant to sound "genericly Indian" and coined as a working titled for a newly organized territories out west: Colorado Territory and Idaho Territory.
Just seen your comment and I too am from the great state of Idaho! I'm right next to the Sho-Ban Reservation and have many friends from the tribe, and the comment I just left on where the word "Idaho" came from is from what they've long said about it. I remember back in the late 70's and early 80's stopping into the Ft. Hall Trading Post and buying those T-Shirts that said "Eye-eEe-Dah-How, not your idaahe` and never quite understanding what the heck it meant until much later when I asked the right people about it.
Yeah, I was a bit disappointed by that explanation, as the real story of the name is so much funnier. He got the broad strokes of it right in that it was originally proposed as a name for Colorado. A politician made it up based on a girl's name, Ida, and he said it was a native word for "Gem of the Mountains" as mentioned. The reason they didn't use it for Colorado was because it became known that it wasn't genuine, but apparently everyone had forgotten by the time they were looking for a name for the state we now know as Idaho, so it found new life. Bloody shame he still put it in the native name category and gave credence to any kind of native etymology.
I was told, growing up in Oregon, that it came from Chinook jargon, the trade language the Natives and the French trappers used where two similar sounding words from each language were blended.
And so many of the wrong ones resulted from asking the tribe 20 miles away what they call those people over there, with the result being "people who eat weird stuff" or "people who talk funny."
@@ffreeze9924 There are stories of linguists going to Australia and asking indigenous Australians the name for their language by asking "What do you call the language we're speaking now," and getting the reply, "Uhhhh ... this." And the linguists would then solemnly write down the word for "this." 😀
I had heard that the word Oregon was a partially written word on the left margin of Lewis and Clark's map early in the expedition. It was in the approximately where the river was. Hence, when the army cartographers redrew the map, they thought the word fragment was the name of the river. One origin of the fragment was the beginning of Ouisconsin, the original French writing of a misunderstanding of what the word that was the original name of Wisconsin. The story I read was that a French trapper had starting to write some notes for the explorers on another sheet and had started on the map sheet instead. I saw thin in an article when I lived in Wausau some almost 50 years ago. So, some of the details are missing.
@@keithtorgersen9664 Well that's just it, in medieval times, when people were much more religious, cursing meant actually uttering a curse against someone, and swearing an oath meant actually swearing an oath, like "by the devil i swear you will be cursed to damnation", really serious stuff back then.
The Conquistadores loved those adventure stories of wandering knights in the Middle Ages and their strange adventures. Don Quixote was written to make fun of how much they loved these books.
20:40 I can believe it. I know it sounds weird but in French there was a switch in the order between adjective and noun. Ancient French had the adjective before the noun, and modern French has the adjective after the noun except for some exceptions that stuck. It's possible someone was just trying to be fancy (because it sounds weird *and* a bit fancy, it gives a poetic mood).
Great content, of course, but I also want to express some appreciation for the graphics. The 3d map and images chosen throughout were excellent supplements to the information. Thanks!
20:45 as a frenchie who studied languages and love poetry : it isn't weird to write "Vert Mont". Adjectives are not necessarily put after the names in french. This sounds more like an old way to talk, or a way of making it look more "poetic".
In Texas there's also a Paris, London, Edinburg (Edinburgh), Liverpool, Hereford, Stratford, Chester, Rochester, Richmond, Elgin, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Fredericksburg, Belgrade, Athens, Warsaw, Geneva, Praha (Prague), Naples, Florence, and Madrid. That's almost the whole of Europe in one US state.
@@RobWordsIt's very probable that the French had a hand in the establishment of the name since they were active traders all across the northern tier of the modern US. I'll just point out that it may also be the case that the name derives from "ooligan," which was a type of fish based food that was traded in western north America and made from salmon smelt caught in the Columbia river and tributaries. It remains a question though if olligan is the original name of the food or if the food was named after the river .
@@TestUser-cf4wj Hmm, there is a car parked in my apartment complex that has the word "ooligan" stenciled on it. I thought they misspelled 'hooligan' (like 'gangster'?). Bet we're in southern California, not Oregon.
@@TestUser-cf4wj You're thinking of oolachan, or candle fish. These fish are extremely oily, and were threaded on sticks and dried to be burned for light, like candles or torches. As you say, important use and trade item in the area, not just the Columbia watershed but much further north, all along coastal British Columbia.
Being from New Hampshire, everytime I meet someone from England I always ask if they are from Hampshire, but out of the several dozen I have asked I have yet to meet one. Honestly I just need to know what Old Hampshire is like.
Great video, a treat as always. Growing up in Kentucky, we were taught the name came from a Cherokee (I think) word meaning "Dark and bloody ground". I've seen that maybe that was a reference to the forest cover (dark) and a place where there was lots of hunting (the blood), but I don't know. Now I live in Maine, where we also don't know what the heck the name really comes from -- maybe next I'll move to Rhode Island or Oregon! :-)
@@keithtorgersen9664It comes from the name of a village, which comes from the name of the Apalachee tribe who inhabited it. Their name means "those by the sea"
Well in French it's actually possible to talk about the " verte montagne " usually sounding more poetic. Really often using a location behind the montagne. Like " les vertes prairie de barhem"
I like the theory for that name of California that is comes from Latin caldarium fornax, meaning oven pot, which could refer to the Central Valley of California. While I like this theory, it seems unlikely. But if you’ve been to the Central Valley it might at least seem plausible.
Actually. Virginia is a multilingual pun. One of the settlers Sir Walter Raleigh sent over here asked a native "What do you people call this place?" The Native American said .."Winginoa". apparently with the accent on the "gin" The Englishman reported back to Sir Walter "The Indians call this place Winginoa." and Sir Walter told the Queen. She said, "Oh, but I want it to be named for me!" so they came up with Virginia. Later someone learned the native language and realized winginoa means "you wear fine clothes." The guy hadn't understood the question. I don't think anyone ever told the Queen.
It’s so odd to name a territory after a person’s sexual status. They probably wouldn’t have done that for a man. I wonder if there has ever been a place named after a gay person?
@@gerardacronin334what do you mean "I wonder if a town has ever been named after a gay person"? Alexandria is one of the most famous cities of antiquity. There have been thousands of cities in the thousands of years of human history, of course there have been places named after gay people, and there have almost definitely also been places named for the chastity or lack therof of men.
@@4rtie No, that was not my question. I was not referring to the use of a person’s actual name. “Virginia” was not Queen Elizabeth I’s name. It refers to the fact that she was, or was perceived to be, a virgin. How would you like to live in a town called “Lesbian” or “Queer”?
Hit me with some more interesting US place name origins. Comment below. And remember you can get TypeAI PREMIUM now! Start your FREE trial by clicking the link here: bit.ly/Mar24RobWords
How the heck is this five hours ago
I am disappointed in seeing your use of AI generated images, and taking a sponsorship from a generative AI company. The amount of energy wastage, stolen artwork, and unethical business practices that goes into these image generators are way too high for any "benefit" they may have to a workflow. You are also using them to depict historical events and people, in which there are plenty of images and references that accurately depicts your historical references already available through stock photos. So choosing to use generated images that are known to create inaccuracies is baffling to me.
I'm from Fall River where there are many native American names still of the streets n rivers but it is called Fall River because the native Americans called it that cause many many hills n many river n streams n ponds that end up in the Taunton river n if u day dream when you look at all the now paved hills you can see why it's call "falling rivers" or now it is Fall River Massachusetts in fact the quecachan river still flows through the entire city n ends up in the Taunton river n my good friend from Taiwan who is a chemistry professor at UMass says we have some of the best tap water in the world n this city was mostly French Canadian then mostly saint Michael's accoreana which is the southern most island of the islands of accoreze owned by Portugal n it's common for us who well basically me n everyone my age have parents who were born in the accoreana soa Miguel we tattoo a 5 digit from a die or pair of dice in the middle of our thumb n pointer finger on the backhand of our left or right hand also the city has a "rolling rock" that is massive deposited by the retreat of glacier its a massive rock but it forms to a little point n looks like it will tip , other than that n a lot of native american names n old mills n factories , its not a must see
Grand Teton national park, someone once told me it was a funny name in some language or another
TONS of Welsh ones in the area of the old Barony in Pennsylvania. Might be interesting for you to look at Welsh place names around the world? Pennsylvania, Patagonia, maybe someplace else starting with P ...
50% - Tribe X was living here
50% - Great River
A bit.
California was named for a Spanish novel about a mythical country so it’s the exception to that rule..
Pennsylvania means Penn's Forests
For the states with vaguely indigenous names, yes kind of
@@pltntn1337 Have to let Penn Gillette know, he's seemingly come into a bit of land!
About Vermont not being Montvert: there is evidence that when French and a Germanic language come into contact, sometimes placenames undergo a switch of word order, e.g. Neufchâteau (Belgium) or Neuchâtel (Switzerland). In some corner cases, French adjectives also come before the noun (e.g. "petit"), which is also thought to be a Germanic influence.
Another interesting aspect of Vermont’s name is that it was first called New Connecticut by a convention of the leaders of a rebellion against… the colony of New York. It’s a fascinating piece of U.S. history that I can’t summarize properly here, but worth looking up.
At the time, most of the European settlers to the land had come from Connecticut Colony, and named the towns they founded after places in Connecticut (Windsor, Hartford, New Haven, etc.)
My understanding is that the name was changed to Vermont to avoid confusion with the old Connecticut. The intention was always to join the other colonies, and eventually states. But New York did not allow it until 1791, and only after Vermont gave some of the disputed land back.
During that time, Vermont had to sort out its identity as an independent place. Samuel de Champlain was the first European to see the lands that are now called Vermont and described them as « green mountains » (in French, of course). The rebels knew this, and named themselves the Green Mountain Boys.
All this to say, I bet your theory is right, but it’s at least plausible that a group of Anglophone backwoods men would take the story about de Champlain and end up naming their new home in broken French.
Totally agree ! I'm from Northern France, which has quite the Germanic influence, and we still sometimes use a word order closer to German !
my theory is that Vermont comes from the French vers les monts (towards the mountains or hills), and was slowly condensed over time by English speakers, but no one will ever know!@@OaxBratt
The switching of word order does not sound that odd to me as french speaker when it is about names of places.
It's not a matter of corner cases. In French, like in Italian, there's not a fixed position for adjectives, so there's plenty of cases where they come before the name. Cf. Nouvelle Vague (New Wave) or simple common sentences like "C'est une belle femme" (She's a beautiful woman). In fact, in reference to your examples, neuf/neuve and nouveau/nouvelle (slightly different ways to say "new") almost always come before the name (mon nouveau travail, sa nouvelle voiture, le nouveau film de Tarantino), but the art movement is called Art Nouveau and in Paris there's the Pont Neuf (just like in Florence there's Ponte Vecchio, but we usually say "un vecchio amico" /an old friend or "una nuova vita" / a new life, and Fellini's movie is "La dolce vita"). (In fact, in some cases the position changes the meaning, because "un vecchio amico" means a friend we've known for a long time, while "un amico vecchio" means a friend who is old of age).
The most fun theory of how Oregon got its name comes from the 1945 book "Names on the Land" by George R. Stewart. As the story goes, a French explorer in 1715 made a map where he labeled an upper tributary of the Mississippi the "Ouisconsinc" (this would later be Anglicized as "Wisconsin"). But a careless scribe back in France created a copy of the map where he mistakenly changed "Ouisconsinc" to "Ouariconsint." The copier also ran out of room, so he put the "sint" underneath the rest of the word, with a hyphen. Subsequent copiers missed the "sint" entirely, leaving "Ouaricon." Eventually, in the minds of explorers, "Wisconsin" and "Ouaricon" became two distinct rivers: one the existing Wisconsin River we know today, the other a great, mythical river that we will surely find if we just keep going west. But they pushed all the way to the Pacific and didn't find the river, so they named the coastal region they'd found after the nonexistent river. Only by this time the name of the river had morphed from Ouaricon to Ouragon to Ourgan to Ourigan to-you guessed it-Oregon. So Oregon is literally just the word Wisconsin after a long game of telephone.
but he says in the video that the columbia river was originally called the oregon river and the state named after the river, so maybe they found that mythical river. i bet that was exciting for whoever found it.
I would never trust a history book from the 1940s. Ever. 😂
from the "oregon river" theory and the sheer amount of river naming for things we can perhaps find a native american language with a distant relation to Warao/venezuela, which named the famous Orinoco river.
There is ZERO chance that you can be anywhere near the Pacific northwest corner of the US (and/or the southwest corner of Canada) and not find the Columbia River. It's the dominating natural feature of the area. Doesn't matter if you're native, Spanish, French, English or Martian.
It's more likely that the name derives from a food that was traded inland by native peoples living along the Columbia that was based on ground fish, called _ooligan._ This word was known to be associated with the entire Columbia basin. This is seen even in the English name for the region, the Oregon _territory._
If you figure that the state takes it's name from the river, and that the river bore the name of a widely traded foodstuff that originated from it, and that the entire region was was associated with the foodstuff, it starts to come together. One thing is almost certain though. The name ultimately derives from native sources, not European. If it had a European origin, it's etymology would be much clearer. Considering how much native language has been lost in the last 200 - 300 years, it's reasonable to believe a native origin (oregon?)
@@TestUser-cf4wj That sounds plausible. As I said, the book that story is from is pretty old; many American soldiers brought copies of it with them to Europe and the Pacific to remind them of home. But while the origin stories in it are fun, I imagine a lot of them have since been disproven by later, more careful research. That said, I don't know that we're ever going to get a definitive smoking gun for the etymology of Oregon. There are too many competing theories at this point.
A point about the name of Vermont and the possibility of it coming from French with a strange word order: French actually does reverse noun and adjective order quite often when it comes to place names and more generally for poetic reasons, or at least it used to. It's a feature that has dropped from modern French, but might still have been commonplace back then. I can totally picture the French looking at said mountains and calling it "le Vert-Mont"
Thanks for this, I had no idea it was a poetic tool. Consider me educated.
😮❤Wow that makes so much sense because Spanish does the same thing for poetic purposes!
Interesting that English sometimes does the same for poetic reasons, for example "Upon the mountain green, so beautiful!"
Absolutely. The reverse order in French is a feature of literature, but also in the popular language with some adjectives, like beau, bon, grand, petit, etc..
Examples: Other French names formed in this way: Beauport, Beaufort, Belmont, Beaulieu, Grand-Pré, Vieux Carré, Neufchâtel, Neuville, etc….
Blanche Neige and Snow White
You did a great job of presenting this at a pretty rapid pace, while somehow making it feel casually paced. Well done.
Cloudy water referring to fog is spot on for Minnesota, we have many foggy mornings and it can be a lovely thing seeing it over a beautiful lake
Wow what a treat Rob ! I really enjoyed your tour of the US states and the background to the names. Thanks 👍
On Oregon: According to the records of the state, "The first written record of the name "Oregon" comes to us from a 1765 proposal for a journey written by Major Robert Rogers, an English army officer. It reads, "The rout... is from the Great Lakes towards the Head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the River called by the Indians Ouragon."
Also, the name was originally applied to the entire region, in 1848 the United States Congress approved the formation of the Oregon Territory. At the time, the Oregon Territory included all the present day states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and even parts of Montana and Wyoming. The route the homesteaders (pioneers) followed through a pass in the northern Rockies and along the Snake and Columbia Rivers to reach the Pacific coast was called the Oregon Trail.
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest they hammer you with the history of the Oregon Trail, Lewis and Clark, and various local tribes and Wild West towns that still exist today. My school even held a play, multiple years in a row, where we acted out different pioneer scenarios and sang songs about them. I still have some lines memorized:
Lewis: It's Lewis and Clark!
Clark: That's Clark and Lewis!
Both: Going down the trail to see what we can find!~
It was a while before I learned anything about any state beyond the PNW, let alone any other countries.
Another possible origin of the name Oregon is from the smelt, a small greasy fish traded throughout the west known to the natives as ooligan or oorigan. This is just another theory being explored.
@@Kineticboy2K1 I don't know if you've read "Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose about the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but it's a fantastic book.
@@StereoSpace Wow, what a blast from the past! Yes, my teacher had dozens of copies and handed them out for us to read aloud from during class. I didn't remember the title when you said it, but googling it gave me such a nostalgia trip seeing the cover. Wild!
@@Kineticboy2K1. What about chief Joseph’s cuneiform tablet ?
'The French tend to lose interest before they reach the last letter in a word.' That's funny right there.
That's possibly true. My surname is of French origin and ends with a silent S
LE FRANCAIS EST LA LANGUE DES DROITS DE L HOMME DE L ELEGANCE ET DE LA MODE C EST BEAU NON MERCI
@@zacandmillie D T C S X E are the most commun victime for us french. if they are the last letter of a word, f... them.
That's a slightly "My Fair Lady" ish remark: "The French do not care what they do so long as it's pronounced correctly."
Same thing with the Vermont accent is basically this but everyone is super focused on the first half of each word infact when I moved out it was super jarring hearing everyone stressing the last letters of every word so harshly I always get an aneurysm every time I hear someone say vermonT like dude chill
The information here is great as always but as someone dabble in video editing, the editing of the video is superb.
Thank you. I'm slowly improving.
@@RobWordsYou do your own editing? You’re incredible! ❤
Hi!! French guy here. Vert Mont does sound ok for old french language, the adjective was sometimes placed before the noun in certain occurences.
I wish Rob had gone into more detail about California. It is true that California was named for a mythical island in a picaresque Spanish novel published in the early 1500s popular with Spanish explorers at the time. When the Spanish explorers spotted Baja California, the modern name for the Mexican region, they thought the very long peninsula was an island off the Mexican mainland. Thus why the peninsula was named after this mythical island, California. Only about 50 years later did other Spanish explorers realize the peninsula was attached to the mainland. And that's when they renamed the peninsula "Baja California" or "Lower California" and the land to the north "Alta California" or "Upper California." Alta California was ceded to the U.S. in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War of 1848. The American settlers living there opted to drop the "Alta" from California so that Mexico would not have a claim to the land in the future. Hence the modern name of the state.
His story was better than your stupid story he explains that the name has Arabic roots
Do the same with Canadian provinces and territories. I live in Nova Scotia, New Scotland, but there’s tons of English, German, Irish, Danish, even Icelandic people here.
Yea. I’m Canadian too and I live in the Province of Where the River is Narrow.
@@Christian_MartelQuebec! (I had to look it up, but I used to know about a lot of all 61 states/provinces in N.A.)
@@wyattstevens857461? 50 states and 10 provinces... where's the last one?
@@Hisscreeper46 I got confused- but did Canada (sometime in the past 10 years- see "International Relations" by Studio C, where I think one of them mentions 11 and not just 10) actually have 11?
@@wyattstevens8574As a Canadian, no. It used to have two territories but now it has three, and they are basically provinces these days, but its number of provinces hasn't changed since 1949, when Newfoundland joined.
I almost didn’t watch this, because I’ve seen other channels cover the topic, but this is definitely the best one. Well done, from the Four Corners region.
Etymology of U.S. Territories & The Federal District:
Puerto Rico: Rich Port (Spanish)
Guam: What We Have (Chamorro, "Guahan")
American Samoa: Place of the moa (Maori)
U.S. Virgin Islands: Named for St. Ursula
Northern Mariana Islands: Named for Spanish Queen Mariana of Austria
Washington D.C.: President Washington, District of Columbia (Columbia is a Poetic name for the U.S., named after Christopher Columbus)
Etymology of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands:
Baker Island: Named for Michael Baker (Nicknamed, New Nantucket)(Hawaiian laborers named Baker Island "Paukeaho", meaning "out of breath")
Howland Island: Named Howland after the lookout who spotted it (Originally named Worth by a whaling ship's captain)
Jarvis Island: Named for Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis (Nicknamed, Bunker Island)
Johnston Atoll: Named for Captain Charles James Johnston
Kingman Reef: Named for Captain W. E. Kingman (Previously charted as, Caldew Reef and Maria Shoal)
Midway Atoll: Midway is roughly equidistant between North America and Asia (Hawaiian, "Kuaihelani", the backbone of heaven, & "Pihemanu", The loud din of birds)
Palmyra Atoll: Named for U.S. trading ship Palmyra (Itself named for the ancient Syrian city)
Wake Island: Named for either Captain Samuel Wake or Captain William Wake (Marshallese, "Ānen Kio", island of the kio flower)
Navassa Island: Named Navaza from Spanish for plain or flat (French, "Île de la Navasse", Haitian Creole, "Lanavaz")
Etymology of U.S. Compact of Free Association Nations:
Marshall Islands: Islands of the Marshallese (Marshallese, "Ṃajeḷ")
Micronesia: The region of small islands (Italian)
Palau: Village (Palauan, "Belau" or "Beluu")
This comment should definitely be pinned!
This is a good summary of the names of the territories, Minor Outlying Islands, and the associated states! Also, Guam's "what we have" reminded me of some of the states with Native American names (which are often self-referential, such as the "allies in Texas and the Dakotas), while the Northern Mariana Islands is of the same genre of names as Virginia, Maryland, or Lousiana.
Thanks for the added information!
Spanish "rico" means beautiful, not rich.
@@dr.atlantis2194means a lot of things could be "yummy" if you talk about a food, could be "rich, wealthy" if you talk about money, could be "a lot of..." If you talk about concentration "Rico en azucar" (have a lot of sugar), etc. ....
Could be a lot of thing but in this case it would be"wealthy port or rich port" (in terms of natural resources, gold, silver, fish, etc)....
Spanish is my mother tongue
Greetings bro 👍
@@dr.atlantis2194Rico like "beautiful" sounds weird maybe could be a slang in central America in places, but it's not used in that way...
Something beautiful is "lindo", "bello", "hermoso", "precioso", "bonito", etc
Thanks from sunny Florida for remembering your American pals! That was fun &, as ever, informative.
In French, the word order is not important for places names: you have cities named Rougemont as well as Montrouge, Francheville as well as Villefranche, etc
So Vert Mont doesn't sound so weird to me as a Frenchman
Also Vert Mont would be the better word order for a poetic name, and Mont Vert would sound very descriptive and not poetic at all
Love this sort of historical information. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks a lot Rob, I like etymologie and yours videos are huge sources of knowledge for this.
Besides I almost understand everything you say, thanks to your clear oral expression and good English accent.
Cheers from France.
Thank you for the video! I request you please use the least amount of AI imaging in your videos. It is more enjoyable to view images which are not AI generated!
seconded
It's because he was sponsored by an AI image generation software company
@ oof
The funny thing about Arkansas is that in French, at least here in Canada, we do pronouns the final S
I often wonder if Arksnsas is pronounced Arkansaw why isn't Kansas pronounced Kansaw?
@@amethyst1826IIRC it was the US government that decided the confused pronunciation (ar-kan-saw and ark-kansas) & distinguished it from Kansas
@@zetectic7968 Reject boomer English, use new English; "Ar-can sauce" and "Can sauce" 😂😂😂👌 don't be negative, be "can" positive!
My mother, from rural Ireland, pronounced Arkansas by adding "Ar" to the beginning of the state name Kansas, until I corrected her. She said that's how she was taught to pronounce it in school.
@@Jimeo722The river is pronounced that way in Kansas. In Oklahoma, it's pronounced like the state of Arkansas.
Caliphate - California 🤯😆!?! I don't think I can ever unhear/ unsee that (and it was in plain sight all the time!). And I'll have to tell that now to everyone.
Yeah, my mind was blown by that one too. It makes sense with the Muslim influence in Spain for a long time.
I feel the VERY SAME WAY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But it's also named after ancient fiction. So it's like a Middle Earth, but Arabic?
@@kxmode No, it's Middle Earth but in Spanish with fake Arabic sprinkled throughout to make it feel mystical and timeless. California appears to be a Spanish name using this fake Arabic. Just like how nowadays "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" are novels in English with fake Celtic sprinkled throughout to make them feel mystical and timeless.
As a Muslim this gave me a chuckle
18:23 ''ever since someone pointed out that Montana looks like it's whispering sweet nothings into Idaho’s ear, I can’t unsee it.'' Surprised that, in the same vein, you didn't mention MIMAL: ''the elf created by the borders of the states that make up its name (Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana). The image also includes Kentucky and Tennessee to make it appear that Mimal is cooking chicken, with Kentucky serving as the chicken and Tennessee as the pan.''
Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg officially known as Lake Chaubunagungamaug, also known as Webster Lake in Massachusetts. It has the longest name of any land mark in the US It translates roughly from the nipmuc language to "fishing place at the boundary"
Up until 2020 the official name of Rhode Island was State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Providence plantations being the City of Providence.
And, I'll point out that the population of the Providence metro area is higher than the population of the state (because much of the metro area is actually in nearby Massachusetts).
@@mikep3226 Yes it is! Bristol County, MA
I have been to that lake many, many times :)
I loved their hit song....I get knocked down, but i get up again, you ain't never gonna keep me down!!
@@trekkiejunk LOL
Rhode Island's name originally referred to Aquidneck Island (southern part of the state where city of Newport is), named by early explorers who compared its appearance to the Greek island of Rhodes. The name later extended to the entire state, formally known as "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," but recently shortened to "State of Rhode Island" in 2020 to avoid associations with the term "plantations."
only in 2020? Pff.. better late than ever I guess...
I believe the term island was given to the land because the settlers of the state were fleeing religious prosecution and separated them selves from the rest of the land like an island. Not religious prosecution from Europe though but from those living in Connecticut. This would be why the state is so small as well being that it was just a small group of people wishing to separate themselves from the rest of the land compared to the other colonies.
@carlosfontanez9804 that was the homie Roger Williams who came down from Massachusetts to settle what is now Providence.
@@carlosfontanez9804 The original Rhode Island colony that we got our name from was on Aquidneck Island…
Also, fun fact. All of the land in Roger Williams’ Providence colony was legally purchased from the natives. Providence Rhode Island is one of the few places that isn’t stolen land.
Yes but the settlement was called Rhode island not from the name of the land but from the purpose it was built for. Otherwise it would have been called Aquidneck Island. I believe it was separated from the colonies not entirely by land but purposefully isolated ideologically and physically like an island would be to keep naysayers from invading and encroaching on them. Intentionally isolated to avoid prosecution. Maybe I am wrong but that is the version of colonial settlement I was taught. In that sense the settlement felt like an island among the other colonies. It is somewhat up to interpretation but that level of isolation may have attracted others who were also aligned with it's purpose.@@isaacevilman7586
Well done, Rob. I rather enjoyed this, and I appreciate the amount of research that was required to put this together. I was particularly appreciative of the fact that you got the Aleut name of Alaska correct, that meaning. It's one of the few languages which have verbs as opposed to a lot of nouns. Sentences and constructions are all spoken of in terms of processes, whether they are completed, ongoing, or to happen in the future. This is true also of the Diné language, the language of the Navajo. I am not sure of other verb-oriented languages, but I'm sure these are not the only two examples. But the name of Alaska is particularly illustrative of this type of focus.
I suspect that there might have been, in the Indo-Iranian languages, a sub-part that was oriented around processes as opposed to nouns. The reason why I'm curious about this possibility is the Buddhist notion that we are three agglomerations of processes. There are processes that relate to thought and the brain, processes related to the heart and the soul, and processes devoted to the physical. Processes can be completed in the past, be ongoing to be completed soon, or ongoing to be completed in the future. But that notion of there being no self, because we're not a unit but a collection of three collections of processes.
I grew up in New York State, particularly downstate New York, meaning on Long Island, and then there's Manhattan and the lower part of the mainland. We have a large number of Dutch place names. We have, for example, the Sawkill, which is a kill or a creek that a sawmill was associated with at one time. So there are all these different Dutch words present in New York State, as well as places which are still named after Dutch aristocrats.
Growing up on Long Island, I am extremely aware of many places that are based on Algonquin and Iroquois names. Well, there's one that I'm remembering offhand, Quaquogue, but there are lotd others. I couldn't tell you what they meant. I was just very much aware growing up that we had all these Native American names.
Very cool of you to take the time.. 😌 Thank You 🙏🏽
I've seen several videos on the origins of the state names. Yours is my far the most comprehensive. Excellent, just like all your videos.
This was great. Highly informative. Succinct and accurate as it should be.
Cheers!
I love you videos and the amount of research and effort you put into this free content. Thank you for your efforts.
I always delight when I see you’ve uploaded another robwords
Wisconsin’s Menominee name is Wēskōhsaeh (way-skoH-seh) by the way. Not wekohsaeh. I’m not sure if you made a typo or if your source had put it down wrong. I would just like to say that as an omāēqnomenēweqnaesew (Menominee speaker). Though as a language enthusiast, I really appreciate this video! Combined with correct spelling and French pronunciation, I think our language might be where the name comes from. Waewaenen!
Being a tribal member and living in Oklahoma. We don’t have a problem with the state name here. It works for us.
You can call someone a white person no problem. it’s ok to call someone black as well. But to say that someone has red skin is an insult
@@Avinkwep Only to the overly sensitive.
Exactly 💯
@@HaCubbee Oh…. Look….. an overly sensitive one.
Hey I appreciate your input on this. I'm curious of your opinion (if you have one) of the nfl team the washington redskins changing their name?
I am a 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝑨𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆 living in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tulsa is a Muskogee/Creek word meaning a gathering place. I found your video fascinatingly educational. Thank you so much for your wonderful intellectual research. Your intellect won me as a subscriber. Thank you again, for the fun vlog!
For Minnesota, according to Šišókaduta, a Dakota language instructor at the university of Minnesota:
"A literal translation would be clear water," Šišókaduta said. "But what it ... really refers to is where the waters reflect the skies, because the water is clear and still."
Some people interpret that as the source of the cloudy water - it’s simply water reflecting clouds.
I’ve always heard it translated as “water that reflects the sky,” and I thought that was such a beautiful name for our state. The land of the waters that reflect the sky.
Came here to say the same thing! (Although you have me beat on details). Hello fellow Minnesotan!
"from the land of sky blue waters .."
Why don’t you like the clouds?? Clouds save in the heat, clouds are a source of heavenly water, the clouds themselves are beautiful and not banal, like the ordinary, unpoetic, plain blue sky.🙄🙄🙄😬
I wondered about that too because sometimes the waters will be so still it feels like you’re canoeing in the sky. And sometimes it’s so windy, the breaking waves feels like you’re boating through the clouds, so I guess it could go either way lol.
@@Sea0fTimegood ole Hamm’s.
you left out part of California: fornia. it's from the archaic spanish for "furnace" (forno), so the full name is "kalifa's furnace(s)," keeping in mind that the legendary amazons wore golden armor, hence the reference.
KEvron
"Flower man robs Wendy's with an aligator"
Alligator Boyz, woot woot.
I was hoping you'd discuss the recent change in Rhode Island's name, because prior to 2021, it was "Rhode Island & Providence Plantations."
The smallest state with the longest name!
That sounds much cooler
Strange name change because "Plantations" at least in that context had nohting to do with of what we would call "slave plantations" today
The "Plantations" part doesn't jive with most people for good reason. We can't return "gay" to its original meaning and same goes for plantation.
Thanks for taking the time to put this together. Pretty interesting stuff.
I really enjoyed this catagorical presentation format. At first I was confused why you weren't going by sequential admittance to the Union. Great video! Thanks.
Everything was accurate except the part on Wisconsin which was named after a type of fish preparation.
i have to pause these videos quite a lot... a lot of information to soak in and quite to think about.
Thank you for the Michigan correction ! As a resident it’s one of my pet peeves how a lot of Brits pronounce it
J’adore ça, tellement bien raconté! Merci pour le partage! Vert Mont is a poetic way to say Mont Vert… u’ve got the same in « verts pâturages »
Oh really! So it can be that way round. Thanks.
La même chose en Espagnol : los verdes prados (suena más poético)
C'est assez courant, quand on nomme un lieu, en fait. Tout le monde dit "la Grand Place", par exemple.
@@AndreaAvila78 así es
Insightful, informative and very interesting.
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing your incredible research. Enjoyed!
Interesting is also, why it's the "New York YANKEES"!
Yankee is the english version (pronunciation) of the (quite typical) dutch name Janke, which translates to little John.
So it was the City of the (dutch) Jankes, bc. NY was New Amsterdam in the beginning.
😅
In a marginally connected tangent: I'm currently in a show about the history of Samut Prakan, which is the area around the mouth of The Chaophraya River as it flows into The Gulf of Thailand. Before doing this show I was completely unaware that region was also named New Amsterdam, due to the Dutch traders who settled there.
People just liked it better that way.
We were taught in Connecticut that "Yankee" came from the Dutch pronunciation of an English insult at the time. The insult was to call someone a "John Key", which the CT settlers called the Dutch. They in return would reply to the CT settlers in their pronunciation and call them "Jahn Key". And it stuck.
@@stevetalkstoomuch
No, it's not Jahn/John Key. It's really just Ja(h)n-ke, little John.
Which in itself is/is meant as an insult.
Calling grown men "little.." is mostly not taken too well.
The ending "-ke" in Dutch (and northern Germany) is marking a diminutive.
In middle Germany it's "-che(n)" and in the south "le".
In Swisse, even more south it's "li".
Perterke, Peterche(n), Peterle, Peterli.
Janke, Janche(n), Janle, Janli.
🤷♀️
The story I heard was that Yankee or Yankees comes from Jan Kees meaning John Cheese, an insult Dutch colonists in New Netherlands had for their neighbors in New England.
As for how the baseball team in the Bronx got its name, the team was originally called the Highlanders, probably in reference to the fact that their original 1903 ballpark sat on the highest elevation in Manhattan. (It's now the sight of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.) Eventually, in 1912, the ball club moved into the Polo Grounds on the Harlem River, sharing it with Giants, before moving into their own stadium on the opposite bank in 1923. While still at the Polo Grounds, sportswriters began calling the team by the nickname Yankees, possibly because of the number of New Englanders playing on the team at the time.
Stellar work as always, Rob! Speaking of things you can’t unsee - Montana might be whispering to Idaho, but what about the giant chef (Minnesota hat, Iowa head, Missouri belly, Arkansas pants, Luisiana boots) holding a Tennessee pan and frying some Kentucky chicken. Try and unsee THAT. :D
😄
And Florida is a handgun!
How appropriate.
AKA Mimal
I've seen the chef, but not the frying pan, 😂😂😂
In KFC they have a pic of a chicken drumstick 🍗 next to a map of Kentucky and it says "coincidence, I think not".
Wonderful explanations! Thank you!
Colorado the river was initially named the Grand river, hence Grand Canyon and Grand Junction. The Colorado River did not go through the eponymous state. In earlier nomenclature, the Colorado River began at its confluence with the Green River. Above the confluence, Colorado was called the Grand River.
July 25th, 1921, Congress passed House Joint Resolution 460, which officially changed the name of the Grand River to the Colorado River to appease the Coloradans.
Excellent knowledge. I spotted Grand River on a few old maps.
Came here to explain the same thing. When Colorado was named, they didn't even know the river was there. Colorado Territory was named after Old Colorado City, which was named after the red rocks in the area. Garden of the Gods being the best example. The river was named Colorado in California, since it is red when full of silt. It starts in Grand Lake, largest lake in the state, and was named the Grand River. Hence Grand Junction Colorado and Grand Canyon. Only later did they figure out it was the same river as the Colorado.
Yes, the real Colorado River is in the Austin, Texas area... that other one to the west is an imposter!
I grew up in Grand Junction! Wild to see it here ❤
Loved the joke about splitting Carolina and Charles.
I live in NC myself and I very much appreciated it 😂
King Charles had a split personality.
King Charles had a splitting headache.
Great video! I’m an American and for a long time I’ve been able to tell you at least what language or culture almost every state name comes from, but I don’t usually know the original meaning of the words, particularly the Native American and Spanish derived names. Once again, great vid!
So interesting! I never knew about that silent "C" in Connecticut until I saw this. I am so glad I stumbled across your channel recently while meandering around RUclips! Thank you!
Thank you Rob & team! You all deliver in spades.
One thing about Maryland-----yes, the state is officially named after Henrietta Maria and Charles I did say that she was to be referred in English as "Queen Mary", but that's not the whole story. The colony/province of Maryland was intended to be a haven where English Catholics could practice their faith more freely, and I strongly suspect "Henrietta Maria" was merely an excuse to name the state after the "Mary" they really wanted to honor, which was the Virgin Mary, or the "St. Mary" where Maryland's first settlement and capital was founded in 1634. It might be just a coincidence, but if I'm right, openly declaring that the colony would be named after the Virgin Mary would have been a very bad mistake. Pope John Paul II visited Maryland in 1995 to honor the bicentennial of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which was the first Catholic diocese in the United States. All this could mean that both Virginia and Maryland are named after....wait for it....virgin queens.
Bingo. Rob's sources are sadly lacking. Maryland was set up as a place for those pesky Pope kneelers (Mary statue praying people) to live. The R.C.'s were not wanted anywhere. Rhode Island was for Baptists. Virginia was for Anglicans. Pennsylvania for Quakers. Georgia started as a penal colony. Mass. & Conn. were "Congregational" colonies. The Carolinas had Presbyterians and some Baptists. New York & New Jersey were mostly Dutch Reformed folks. Delaware had some Swedish Lutherans.
2:51 Brilliant! I really did laugh out loud.
Thanks, Rob. I found your channel while looking for state name origins that I could use to teach English to Brazilians. Very well-researched and entertaining. Thanks to everyone else, too, who provided clarifications in the comments.
About Vermont, it's quite common in French to inverse the adjective, "les vertes collines" (the green hills) or "les vertes contrées" (the green country side) are poetic inversions you hear often, "le vert mont" would be well in line with these.
Regarding Oklahoma meaning "people + red", one thing can't be underestimated/disregarded and that is the famous red soil in Oklahoma. Its color is so well known they're known as the 'red dirt state' due to the PORT in the soil (high in iron) (and fun side note there's a music genre "Red Dirt Music" specifically referring to Oklahoma music). As many Native American tribes referred to themselves as the people, and this regions soil is quite famous, I would urge you to reconsider the rather negative connotations implied in this video.
I did notice that the English guy making the making video seemed to cringe and almost spit when he gave to meaning of the word. People + red,,,, very simple, nothing to cringe about. For decades there was a brand of chewing tobacco in a pouch labeled "Red Man" and it had an "Injun" with a feathered head bonnet. I served in the U.S. military with an Apache from New Mexico. He proudly called himself a "Redman". Take note Mr. Rob words!
While I'm not sure if it's still in practice, red was represented on the medicine wheel to represent the indigenous race. Though, I feel in the past decade it might no longer be looked at that way.
Then again, the medicine wheel might have been "augmented" to have a Carlisle friendly representation.
@@gusloader123 I am a dual tribal member of both Osage Nation and Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and am not offended by Rob's conjecture, as he is clearly sympathetic to the forced removal of so many of us Indigenous Americans to Oklahoma (although us Wahzhazhe were already there). His cringing was in response to our poor treatment at the hands of colonizers, which is apparent in the rest of the commentary ribbing the settlers throughout the video.
This isn't inaccurate at all, and has nothing to do with the red soil.
Okla is referring to the Choctaw word "people" and homa referring to the Choctaw word "red" and is translated as red people.
Recently, there have been arguments that the different definitions would insinuate it means "brave people" or
"Brave Nation" but that is a modern translation.
My native speaking Mississippi Choctaw friend who used to work at the White House as a Native American Liason was proud of the Oklahoma name, and is where my information comes from.
There's nothing negative about it. They were referred to as "red" by themselves and others. What's so wrong about that? I think you're imposing your modern sensitivities into the past. Nobody had an issue with referring to people's appearance back then. Europeans were called "white men", and natives were called "red men". There's no moral judgement there, just a basic observation about a slight difference in appearance.
It's not referring to the soil, that's a serious cope.
Hi, Rob! I am Osage and Cherokee, so I greet you with their respective words for hello: Haweh and Osiyo. I thank you for being so sympathetic and informative about us Indigenous Americans and will close with thank you in Osage and Cherokee: Thali and wado!
I read that Rhode Island was possibly named "Roodt Eylandt" by a Dutch explorer, meaning "Red Island" after the red clay shoreline. Eventually it would either be misunderstood and/or Anglicized to Rhode Island, likely since people were already familiar with the Isle of Rhodes.
I'm not sure how accurate this story is or if it's just apocryphal, but I thought I'd share.
Wasn't that literally explained in the video?
Formally, the full name of the state is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. The smallest state has the longest name.
@@gunkulator1used to be
Rhode Island actial name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantation
@@adamcetinkent Not exactly. The video seems to suggest that the etymology is either the Dutch name OR being named directly after the Isle of Rhodes. I was just trying to clarify that to my understanding nobody thought Rhode Island or any part of it looked like the Isle of Rhodes and nobody initially meant to name it after the island in the Aegean, but that the name itself was appropriated simply for it's familiarity to the primarily English-speaking colonists who either misunderstood the existing Dutch name or just found it too cumbersome to say.
Really interesting (and, of course, well done!) video, Rob! 🤗
For Louisiana, our welcome signs include Bienvenue en Louisiane. We love to hold onto our French heritage, and still operate under the old Napoleonic Code.
The final two made me laugh. 😆
Maybe Oregon is where people wound up after the California gold rush ended. “Ore gone.” 😉
There was a joke at the time that where the California Trail split from the Oregon Trail, one signboard said “Oregon” and the other had a picture of a gold nuggets. Thus the literate went to Oregon.
😂
I'm from a town in California named Auburn. Au is the element name for Gold and burn is well, burn. I know it's just a lil jokie joke but it works because Auburn was like a main hub for the gold rush here.
Would love to see a video dealing with the regional names of Canada and Mexico :)
Some say Oregon is derived from the native word describing trade goods trail. Fish oil was a trade good called “oolaghin” when the area was settled by the newcomers it became anglicized to “orygun.” This is just a thought some linguists have pondered.
In french sometimes we invert nouns and adjective (in literature for example) so Vert Mont is possible.
Interesting theories on Hawaii both of which are, for the most part, accepted by the Native Hawaiians. Well at least the ones I’ve spoken to.
A bit of an addendum to both Hawaii origin theories.
1) Hawaiiloa was said to arrive from the east coast of “the land with the Yellow Sea” or “ka aina o ke Kai Melemele” in the Hawaiian language. The ruler of that land (or maybe just a chief) was his brother named Kanaloa. Interestingly, the only islands within Polynesia that has a Yellow Sea are the Samoan Islands, to be specific, the Manu’a group of islands on the eastern edge of the Samoan archipelago, and within the Manu’a group is an island called Ta’ū. There on the east coast of Ta’ū is the “Tai Samasama” or the “Yellow Sea” in the Samoan language. Tagaloalagi (“Tagaloa of the heavens”, Tagaloa being the original form of the Hawaiian cognate Kanaloa) is the supreme god of the Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti islands, etc. is said to have originated on Ta’ū island. Back in Hawaii, there is a district (similar to shires of England) where the first landing spot is located. That district is now called Ka’ū, which seems like a cognate of Ta’ū.
2) Hawai’i (Hawaiki, Havai’i, Savai’i) as the homeland of Polynesians, eastern Polynesians to be more specific. Although the Polynesians as a whole share very similar culture and language, there are some clear differences between the western Polynesians and eastern Polynesians, mainly the god they placed as their supreme god amongst their local pantheon of gods.
The western Polynesians (Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau, Niue, Tuvalu to name a few) worshipped the god named Tagaloalagi, or a god that is descended or attached to him. For the western Polynesians, their ancestral homeland is known as Pulotu.
The eastern Polynesians (Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Native Maori of New Zealand) worshipped a god named Tāne (or Kāne). It is only them that hold Hawaiki or Havai’i as their ancestral home. Note: although Tahiti is linguistically, culturally, and geographically considered eastern Polynesian, they are the only ones that hold Kanaloa (Ta’aroa in their language) as their supreme god.
According to Tupaia, the Tahitian navigator that aided James Cook in his discovery of the Polynesian islands, Savai’i (the largest island in the Samoan group) is the “father of all Havai’i” and the mythical homeland to which the eastern Polynesians say they come from.
You've left out the hypothesis that the first Hawaiiens came from what is now British Columbia. I don't remember all the strong cultural and linguistic links, but I do remember that it's been proven that it's a natural sailing option given currents, rain and migrant bird paths. Also the Haida have an intersting story and tradition that gives extra weight to the hypothesis, when you add all up it becomes hard to dismiss.
@@ottodidakt3069 I’ve heard that one too. But to be honest, neither myself nor Hawaiians that I am familiar with buy into that hypothesis at all. Genetic, linguistic, and cultural differences are too great to ignore.
I'm NZ Maori and for us and most Polynesians the supreme atua (god/element) changed with the season. This is why James Cook was treated kindly during his stay in Hawaii originally but was killed on his return, the season and therefore supreme atua had changed. Your information is very good, you very much know your stuff. Tena koe
@@ottodidakt3069 So, I'm no linguist, but I did take a year of Hawaiian in college, and looking at the Wikipedia page for the Haida language they look very different. For just a few examples, Haida can end a syllable in one or more consonants, which is not a feature of Hawaiian or closely-related Polynesian languages. Haida also has around three times as many consonants as Hawaiian, whereas Polynesian languages all tend to have similar (relatively small) numbers of consonants (and it's clear where consonant substitutions have been made between them). While Hawaiian is very obviously part of the Polynesian language family, the scholarly consensus is that Haida is either a language isolate or part of the North American Na-Dené family.
It's not too unusual to find superficial similarities between unrelated languages; for instance, 'kahuna' ('priest') in Hawaiian is very similar to the word for priest in Hebrew, and 'pau' means 'finished' in both Hawaiian and Greek (as a root, it wouldn't appear on its own).
@@damink_8508 interesting, I’ve never heard that before. I will share that with my circle of friends. Thanks for sharing
8:20, funny note from a Frenchman, in French we actually *do* pronounce the the S "arr-con-zass" now.
7:44 One of the ways we Americans tell if someone is from our home place is if the person knows the correct native pronunciation of the name as well as the standard (mis-)pronunciation.
(added in editing) For example, my home city of Wichita, Kansas is pronounced like witch-ih-tah (accented first syllable), and those of us from there know that it's named after the "wi-shee-tah" (accent on the second syllable) tribe.
That's true! I also feel some towns take pride in having a unique pronunciation even in English, like Mentor, Ohio being pronounced "Menner" by locals.
Similarly, Mississippians generally pronounce the state name as "MISS-ssippi.
Two guys from New Jersey are driving through Texas and stop at a Dairy Queen in Mexia. They cannot figure out how to say the name. MEX-ee-a? Me-KHEE-a? (It's actually pronounced Me-HAY-a.) So they ask the girl at the counter "How do you say the name of this place?" She asks "Where are y'all from?" "New Jersey". She leans forward and says slowly "D-a-i-r-y Q-u-e-e-n..."
Further to the OP, in Houston you know someone isn't from around here if they pronounce the nearby town of Humble just like the adjective. The "H" in the town's name is actually silent.
It’s how we tell how long someone has lived in the Pacific Northwest too. How does your new friend say Puyallup or Dosewallips? Have they been camping at Humptulips or by the Skookumchuck yet? Can they find their own way to Steilacoom? 🤣
OK so regarding Hampshire. The ham actually comes from Southampton and the location of it in an "area enclosed by a river", 2 in fact, the Test and the Itchen. The first name of the settlement was Hamwic with the wic meaning "trading area" it being a port 'n' all. As it gained importance the name was changed to Hamtun and the wider administrative area Hamtunscir. One of the earliest known uses of scir was when Hamtunscir was mentioned in records in 755CE. It was recorded as Hantescire in the Domesday book (Southampton as Hantune) and apparently the p was first used in later additions to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
The South was later added to Hampton to differentiate it from other similarly named places, most notably Northampton. The shire never got that added whereas Northamptonshire does exist, probably because Northampton already had its North (Northantone in Domesday) when it gave its name to the Shire.
Fun fact: George Washington's Great-grandfather emigrated from Northamptonshire and an earlier ancestor was mayor of Northampton!
I thought it was named after Washington in Tyne and wear
@@lucylane7397 Yes, that's where the surname comes from, but one of the descendents of the first person to take that name moved to Lancashire in the early 14th century and then one of his descendents moved to Northamptonshire. In an ironic twist the family was loyal to King Charles during the civil war and the fact that they lost their property as punishment after he lost may have been a factor in George's Great-grandfather leaving for the New World!
Interesting. Hamburg/ Ham(me)-burg means swamp enclosed by a river & castle. (old saxon)
Thanks for inspiring me to get into languages. im not planning to study linguistics or anything, im just way more interested in learning languages than before
You are a (very large) fountain of knowledge and you express this with ease. Thank you for your efforts.
This is so well put together! I love how you correlate to eachother the name origin of the states
There are a lot of videos about all the state names but this is by far the best one!
Also, I grew up playing sports in school here in Ohio and at state tournaments I’d always wonder why we had a “Wyoming” school district (and city, apparently). Now I know and makes a lot more sense 😊👍
There's also Indiana, Pennsylvania.
Idaho man here! I’m not sure how confident you are about the name of Idaho. It has been my understanding that the name was somewhat made up and slapped on by the senate. Surprisingly, I do not recall learning about the names origin during state history class (although we are not known for our education). Here’s a fun tidbit though: the nickname of Idaho is “The Gem State”. Very appropriate for the mining operation you mentioned. It is actually a treasure trove of precious and semi precious gems.
I have also heard/read that the name Idaho was an entirely made-up name meant to sound "genericly Indian" and coined as a working titled for a newly organized territories out west: Colorado Territory and Idaho Territory.
I’m from Idaho and I agree with your comment. I was looking forward to hearing what he said, to see if he got it right.
Just seen your comment and I too am from the great state of Idaho! I'm right next to the Sho-Ban Reservation and have many friends from the tribe, and the comment I just left on where the word "Idaho" came from is from what they've long said about it. I remember back in the late 70's and early 80's stopping into the Ft. Hall Trading Post and buying those T-Shirts that said "Eye-eEe-Dah-How, not your idaahe` and never quite understanding what the heck it meant until much later when I asked the right people about it.
Yeah, I was a bit disappointed by that explanation, as the real story of the name is so much funnier. He got the broad strokes of it right in that it was originally proposed as a name for Colorado. A politician made it up based on a girl's name, Ida, and he said it was a native word for "Gem of the Mountains" as mentioned. The reason they didn't use it for Colorado was because it became known that it wasn't genuine, but apparently everyone had forgotten by the time they were looking for a name for the state we now know as Idaho, so it found new life. Bloody shame he still put it in the native name category and gave credence to any kind of native etymology.
I was told, growing up in Oregon, that it came from Chinook jargon, the trade language the Natives and the French trappers used where two similar sounding words from each language were blended.
How many tribal names mean "The People" or "The People Who Don't Talk Funny"
As in Deutsche?
And so many of the wrong ones resulted from asking the tribe 20 miles away what they call those people over there, with the result being "people who eat weird stuff" or "people who talk funny."
I think most names for peoples come from this, not just tribes
@@ffreeze9924 There are stories of linguists going to Australia and asking indigenous Australians the name for their language by asking "What do you call the language we're speaking now," and getting the reply, "Uhhhh ... this." And the linguists would then solemnly write down the word for "this." 😀
A LOT of endonyms (What people call themselves) usually mean some form of "Talks Normal, Friendly, Allies, Homeland, Family, Neighbors"
18:10 It is certainly blue in that picture, but to this day is still runs reddish brown on frequent occasions.
I'm not sure which is more brilliant, how concise this video is or how perfect a topic this is for a clickable and extremely useful video.
The pronunciation of vitamin is the one that gets me the most.
The English pronunciation or the American pronunciation? Or another?
Is that related to something in the video? Timestamp?
I had heard that the word Oregon was a partially written word on the left margin of Lewis and Clark's map early in the expedition. It was in the approximately where the river was. Hence, when the army cartographers redrew the map, they thought the word fragment was the name of the river.
One origin of the fragment was the beginning of Ouisconsin, the original French writing of a misunderstanding of what the word that was the original name of Wisconsin. The story I read was that a French trapper had starting to write some notes for the explorers on another sheet and had started on the map sheet instead.
I saw thin in an article when I lived in Wausau some almost 50 years ago. So, some of the details are missing.
Pls do Canada next and include the capital and/or major cities for each province/territory!
im not sure if you did it already but maybe a video on the origins of slurs and curse words
that one might be difficult to get around youtube's censors haha
@@mushymush6902 I think either Lindybeiger or Shadiversity did a video on medieval curses and swears. Quite interesting.
Hey, this is a valid area of linguistics and anthropology! There's even a scholarly journal called Maledicta.
@stoneynine, it’s weird how a large portion of society is non-religious, but yet a good deal of slurs and swear words reference someone being unclean.
@@keithtorgersen9664 Well that's just it, in medieval times, when people were much more religious, cursing meant actually uttering a curse against someone, and swearing an oath meant actually swearing an oath, like "by the devil i swear you will be cursed to damnation", really serious stuff back then.
The California being related to Caliphat is crazzzzy
The Conquistadores loved those adventure stories of wandering knights in the Middle Ages and their strange adventures. Don Quixote was written to make fun of how much they loved these books.
From the other side of the pond, this show was a right banger!
It's really interesting. Thanks
Very interesting; thanks Rob!
20:40 I can believe it. I know it sounds weird but in French there was a switch in the order between adjective and noun. Ancient French had the adjective before the noun, and modern French has the adjective after the noun except for some exceptions that stuck. It's possible someone was just trying to be fancy (because it sounds weird *and* a bit fancy, it gives a poetic mood).
Great content, of course, but I also want to express some appreciation for the graphics. The 3d map and images chosen throughout were excellent supplements to the information. Thanks!
20:45 as a frenchie who studied languages and love poetry : it isn't weird to write "Vert Mont". Adjectives are not necessarily put after the names in french. This sounds more like an old way to talk, or a way of making it look more "poetic".
If you go by the way residents say it it’s still called “carolana”
I think it’s a cute name. lol!
Here in Missouri we have a small town called Mexico
And Wisconsin has a town called Belgium.
Isn't there also an East Palestine somewhere in the US?
I'll also add that we have Cuba, Vienna, and California. I've been to all of them
There are at least five Dublins in the US.
In Texas there's also a Paris, London, Edinburg (Edinburgh), Liverpool, Hereford, Stratford, Chester, Rochester, Richmond, Elgin, Dublin, Amsterdam, Berlin, Fredericksburg, Belgrade, Athens, Warsaw, Geneva, Praha (Prague), Naples, Florence, and Madrid. That's almost the whole of Europe in one US state.
I've heard that "Oregon" somehow comes from a word(s) meaning "great storm" or "hurricane" and is supposedly French related.
The French for hurricane is "ouragan". I bet it's that!
@@RobWordsIt's very probable that the French had a hand in the establishment of the name since they were active traders all across the northern tier of the modern US. I'll just point out that it may also be the case that the name derives from "ooligan," which was a type of fish based food that was traded in western north America and made from salmon smelt caught in the Columbia river and tributaries. It remains a question though if olligan is the original name of the food or if the food was named after the river .
@@TestUser-cf4wj Hmm, there is a car parked in my apartment complex that has the word "ooligan" stenciled on it. I thought they misspelled 'hooligan' (like 'gangster'?). Bet we're in southern California, not Oregon.
@@RobWords Hurricane comes from Hurakan, the Maya god of storms. Almost certainly the same origin for French ouragan, perhaps via English.
@@TestUser-cf4wj You're thinking of oolachan, or candle fish. These fish are extremely oily, and were threaded on sticks and dried to be burned for light, like candles or torches. As you say, important use and trade item in the area, not just the Columbia watershed but much further north, all along coastal British Columbia.
Fascinating. Thank you so much.
Being from New Hampshire, everytime I meet someone from England I always ask if they are from Hampshire, but out of the several dozen I have asked I have yet to meet one.
Honestly I just need to know what Old Hampshire is like.
Great video, a treat as always. Growing up in Kentucky, we were taught the name came from a Cherokee (I think) word meaning "Dark and bloody ground". I've seen that maybe that was a reference to the forest cover (dark) and a place where there was lots of hunting (the blood), but I don't know. Now I live in Maine, where we also don't know what the heck the name really comes from -- maybe next I'll move to Rhode Island or Oregon! :-)
Growing up in Kentucky, I heard that meaning as well but it was attributed to the Shawnee. lol
Do you know the name origin of the Appalachian mountains?
@@keithtorgersen9664It comes from the name of a village, which comes from the name of the Apalachee tribe who inhabited it. Their name means "those by the sea"
Well in French it's actually possible to talk about the " verte montagne " usually sounding more poetic. Really often using a location behind the montagne.
Like " les vertes prairie de barhem"
I like the theory for that name of California that is comes from Latin caldarium fornax, meaning oven pot, which could refer to the Central Valley of California. While I like this theory, it seems unlikely. But if you’ve been to the Central Valley it might at least seem plausible.
Actually. Virginia is a multilingual pun. One of the settlers Sir Walter Raleigh sent over here asked a native "What do you people call this place?" The Native American said .."Winginoa". apparently with the accent on the "gin" The Englishman reported back to Sir Walter "The Indians call this place Winginoa." and Sir Walter told the Queen. She said, "Oh, but I want it to be named for me!" so they came up with Virginia. Later someone learned the native language and realized winginoa means "you wear fine clothes." The guy hadn't understood the question. I don't think anyone ever told the Queen.
It’s so odd to name a territory after a person’s sexual status. They probably wouldn’t have done that for a man. I wonder if there has ever been a place named after a gay person?
@janepilson3636 Kangaroo!
@@gerardacronin334what do you mean "I wonder if a town has ever been named after a gay person"? Alexandria is one of the most famous cities of antiquity. There have been thousands of cities in the thousands of years of human history, of course there have been places named after gay people, and there have almost definitely also been places named for the chastity or lack therof of men.
@@4rtie No, that was not my question. I was not referring to the use of a person’s actual name. “Virginia” was not Queen Elizabeth I’s name. It refers to the fact that she was, or was perceived to be, a virgin. How would you like to live in a town called “Lesbian” or “Queer”?
@@gerardacronin334 you do know that "Lesbian" is the demonym of the island Lesbos, right?