Friendship (motto)

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The motto "friendship" of the U.S. state of Texas dates back to the time of early European explorers in Texas. When travelling through Texas, they were greeted by the American Indians yelling "Tejas!" a native word meaning friendship. The explorers mistakenly thought this was the name of the region and named the area Tejas, which later changed to Texas after the Texas Revolution.

W. Frances Scarborough notes in "Stories from the History of Texas" that the few friendly Indian groups that the Spanish encountered in the area now called Texas often greeted each other by raising their right hand and saying "Teja!" or something similar to that. The Spanish had no idea what it meant but they noticed that it was only exchanged between friendly tribes, so the Spanish assumed that the word meant something like "friend" or "ally". Since the Spanish had no other word for these Indians, they called the entire group Tejas Indians, meaning allied Indians, and the entire area that they inhabited was called the Province of the Tejas.

Other sources note that, since the original "discoverers" of the area is a disputed topic, it is difficult to know from where the word "texas" actually comes. In a "History of Texas: From the Discovery and Settlement with a Description of its Principle Cities and Counties, and the Agricultural, Mineral, and Material Resources of the State" from J. Morphis, it is noted that "texas" may be derived from the capital village of the Nassonite Indians or perhaps from the Spanish word tejer meaning 'to weave' or from tejas meaning tiles, coverings, or cobwebs.