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 real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed,—a, to me, equally mysterious origin for it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)