List of placenames of indigenous origin in the Americas

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Many places throughout North, Central, and South America take their names from the languages of the indigenous inhabitants of the area. The following list, organized by country, includes settlements, geographic features, and political subdivisions whose names are derived from indigenous languages.

Brazil

Canada

Canada itself is a name derived from a Laurentian Iroquois word meaning "village"[1][2] (c.f. Mohawk kaná:ta’).[3][4] See Canada's name for more details. Aboriginal names are widespread in Canada - for a full listing see List of place names in Canada of aboriginal origin. Those listed here are only well-known, important or otherwise notable places.

Province and territory names

British Columbia

NB Too many settlements, lakes, rivers, mountains and other items in British Columbia have indiegenous names for all of them to be included here. Only major or relatively notable items are listed.

Regions

Cities and towns

Rivers and lakes

Mountain ranges

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

Ontario

Quebec

Regions

Towns and villages


Nunavut

Northwest Territories/Denendeh

Yukon

Caribbean

Chile

Guatemala

The country name comes from Nahuatl Cuauhtēmallān, "place of many trees", a translation of K'iche' K’ii’chee’, "many trees" (="forest").[7]

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.

United States

See also

References

  1. Trigger, Bruce G.; Pendergast, James F. (1978). "Saint-Lawrence Iroquoians". Handbook of North American Indians Volume 15. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. pp. 357–361. OCLC 58762737.
  2. Rayburn, Alan (2001). Naming Canada: stories about Canadian place names (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-8020-8293-9.
  3. Bright (2004:78)
  4. Mithun, Marianne (1999). The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 312. ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
  5. Afable, Patricia O. and Madison S. Beeler (1996). "Place Names". In "Languages", ed. Ives Goddard. Vol. 17 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 191
  6. "Saskatoon". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
  7. Campbell (1997:378 n. 10)
  8. Bright (2004:99)

Bibliography

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