States
- Arizona (either from árida zona, meaning arid zone, or from a Spanish word of Basque origin meaning the good oak)
- California (from the name of a fictional island country in "Las sergas de Esplandián", a popular Spanish chivalric romance by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo)
- Colorado (meaning "red " or "ruddy". Named after the Colorado River, whose waters were of that color.)
- Florida (Meaning "flowery" or "florid", because it was discovered by Ponce de León on Easter Sunday, called Pascua Florida to distinguish this holiday, which occurs in springtime when flowers are abundant, from other Christian holidays called Pascua in Spanish, such as Christmas and Epiphany.
- Montana (from montaña, meaning "mountain")
- Nevada (meaning "snowy", from Sierra Nevada, meaning "snow capped range of mountains". Sierra means "a range of mountains,", literally "a saw," from Latin serra.
- New Mexico (Calqued from Nuevo México)
- Texas (based on the Caddo word teshas meaning "friends" or "allies", which was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in East Texas). The letter x had a "sh" sound in 16th century Spanish which gradually evolved to an "h" sound, which under later spelling reforms was assigned to the letter j (which originally also had a "zh", "j" or "y" sound). Thus the modern Spanish spelling Tejas, which sounds like "Tehas".
- Utah (Spanish word of Nahuatl origin, first used by friar Gerónimo Salmerón as Yuta or Uta in Spanish)
Read more about this topic: List Of U.S. Place Names Of Spanish Origin
Famous quotes containing the word states:
“The President of the United States ... should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves his country best.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Mr. Christian, it is about time for many people to begin to come to the White House to discuss different phases of the coal strike. When anybody comes, if his special problem concerns the state, refer him to the governor of Pennsylvania. If his problem has a national phase, refer him to the United States Coal Commission. In no event bring him to me.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“Maybe we were the blind mechanics of disaster, but you don’t pin the guilt on the scientists that easily. You might as well pin it on M motherhood.... Every man who ever worked on this thing told you what would happen. The scientists signed petition after petition, but nobody listened. There was a choice. It was build the bombs and use them, or risk that the United States and the Soviet Union and the rest of us would find some way to go on living.”
—John Paxton (1911–1985)