Jump to content

Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 March 25

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Language desk
< March 24 << Feb | March | Apr >> March 26 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


March 25

[edit]

Etymology of California

[edit]

My uncle's wife told me that California was named after some place in France called Californie (see fr:Californie (homonymie)). Etymology of California doesn't seem to support this theory. Could there be any truth to this? JIP | Talk 21:43, 25 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Here's what EO has to say about it:[1]Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots23:14, 25 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
No mention of any French origins of the name in List of state name etymologies of the United States either. --Theurgist (talk) 00:27, 26 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify, received opinion is that the name of the American state is derived from the fifteenth-century romance Las sergas de Esplandián (and therefore ultimately from "caliph"). However, JIP's relative and the French dab page claim that there was a place in Brittany called "Californie" predating the book. I've not been able to find any references to this theory elsewhere, though. Tevildo (talk) 12:11, 26 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]