Mexico
The name of Mexico is the Nahuatl name for the island in the middle of Lake Texcoco where the Aztecs had their capital, its etymology is opaque.
- Chiapas- Believed to derive from the ancient city of Chiapan, which means "the place where the chia sage grows" in Náhuatl.
- Chihuahua- May come from "dry place" in an unknown Indian language.
- Coahuila- possibly from the Nahuatl word Cuauhillan - "Place of trees"
- Guanajuato- Means "hill of frogs" in the Tarascan language
- Michoacán- Translates to "the place of the fishermen" from the Nahuatl word michhuahcan.
- Nayarit- derived from the endonym of the Cora people "naayarite"
- Oaxaca-Comes from the Nahuatl word huaxyácac or "place of the guaje trees".
- Querétaro- Could come from the Otomi meaning "the great ball game" or the Tarasco/Purépecha language meaning "place of stones".
- Tamaulipas- derives from tamaholipa a Huastec term that could mean "place where high hills".
- Tlaxcala- Means "Place of Maize tortilla". in Nahuatl
- Zacatecas- Named after the Zacatec; an indigenous nation in the area. It means "inhabitants of the grassland" in Nahuatl.
Read more about this topic: List Of Placenames Of Indigenous Origin In The Americas
Famous quotes containing the word mexico:
“I think New Mexico was the greatest experience from the outside world that I have ever had.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Is this what all these soldiers, all this training, have been for these seventy-nine years past? Have they been trained merely to rob Mexico and carry back fugitive slaves to their masters?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)