Origin and history of the name of Argentina

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Cover of the first edition of the poem La Argentina by Martín del Barco Centenera, 1602

The word 'Argentina' is promenient in this view of Straßburg in 1493

The name Argentina is derived from the Latin argentum (silver), which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek ἀργήντος (argēntos), gen. of ἀργήεις (argēeis), "white, shining"^[1]. Αργεντινός (argentinos) was an ancient Greek epithet meaning "silvery"^[2]. The first use of the name Argentina can be traced back to the first voyages made by the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors to the Río de la Plata, on the first years of 16th Century.

Alejo García, one of the survivors of the shipwrecked expedition mounted by Juan Díaz de Solís at 1516, heard notices about a powerful White King in a country very rich in silver, at the mountains, called "Sierra de Plata". García then organized an expedition and reached Potosi's area, gaining several silver objects and gifts. He was killed by the payaguas, returning to Santa Catarina (Brazil), but the guarani people who where part of the exedition took the silver objects back and spread the Sierra de Plata legend, and explained that it was possible to reach that fabulous land through the wide river located to the south .

Because of this the Portuguese named the river found by Vespucio or Solis Río da Prata ("River of the Silver"). The news about the legendary Sierra del Plata (a mountain rich in silver) reached Portugal and Spain around 1524.

The first mention of the Argentina name was in Martin del Barco Centenera's poem La Argentina, published in Spain in 1602.

Ten years later (1612) Ruy Díaz de Guzmán published the book Historia del descubrimiento, población, y conquista del Río de la Plata ("History of the discovery, population, and conquest of the Río de la Plata"), naming the territory discovered by Solís as Tierra Argentina ("Land of Silver", "Silvery Land").

In 1776 the Virreinato del Río de la Plata (Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata) was created, named after the river; it included present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

During the South American Wars of Independence, the territory used a number of names, mainly Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata (United Provinces of the Río de la Plata), but also Provincias Unidas de Sud América (United Provinces of South America), which were used for the union of today's Argentina and Uruguay (by then one of the provinces) since the beginning of the May Revolution, and until around 1836. Nevertheless, the Constitution of Argentina, sanctioned on December 24, 1826 was entitled Constitución de la República Argentina (This Constitution ruled partially for about six months only).

During the second government of Juan Manuel de Rosas Confederación Argentina (founded in 1832) was the main name used for the young country, but others were also used, including Estados Unidos de la República Argentina (United States of the Argentine Republic), República de la Confederación Argentina (Republic of the Argentine Confederation) and Federación Argentina (Argentine Federation).

The 1853 constitution used the Confederación Argentina denomination, but its 1860 amendment changed it to Nación Argentina, though including a paragraph with the historical names as "equivalent and valid" denominations. Then on October 8, 1860, President Santiago Derqui decreed the official name to be República Argentina.