Name Origin
Ponce de Leon was said to have named the island for Maria Anna von der Pfalz-Neuburg, the queen of Charles II of Spain, the sponsor of his expedition. In the past, pronunciation of the name differed: old timers said "Anna Mar-EYE-a," but most people today say "Anna Mar-EE-a." According to a regional historian of note, Lillian Burns, the daughter of the early land developer, Owen Burns, the correct pronunciation of the name of the island by its early settlers was, an-na ma-rye-a, since it was named for the strong winds occurring in the area, using the German term for the wind, Maria. This pronunciation may be heard in the popular song, They Call The Wind Maria, from the musical, Paint Your Wagon.
Read more about this topic: Anna Maria Island
Famous quotes containing the word origin:
“The origin of storms is not in clouds,
our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
spillways free authentic power:
dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
to break the armored and concluded mind.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)