View source for Etymology of California

{{Short description|Origin of the name California}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Etymology of ''California''}}
[[File:Gutierrez Americas-California.jpg|thumb|300px|This 1562 map ''[[Americae Sive Quartae Orbis Partis Nova Et Exactissima Descriptio]]'' by [[Diego Gutiérrez (cartographer)|Diego Gutiérrez]] was the first map to print the [[toponym]] ''California''.]]
Multiple theories regarding the origin of the name ''California'', as well as the root language of the term, have been proposed,<ref>See, for example, several theories cited at [http://etimologias.dechile.net/?California Etimología de California] on etimologias.dechile.net. Retrieved 1 April 2006.</ref> but most historians believe the name likely originated from a Spanish 16th-century novel, ''[[Las sergas de Esplandián]]''. The novel, popular at the time of the Spanish exploration of Mexico and the [[Baja California Peninsula]], describes a fictional island named ''California'', ruled by [[Calafia|Queen Calafia]], east of the [[East Indies|Indies]].{{efn|At the time, "Indies" referred to India and the southeast Asian island groups influenced by India. The area is now referred to as the East Indies.}} The author of the novel, [[Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo]], also known as Ordóñez de Montalvo, is thought to have derived the name ''California'' from the Arabic ''Khalif'' and/or ''Khalifa'', but he may also have been influenced by the place name "Califerne" in the ''[[Song of Roland]]'', an 11th-century epic poem written in [[Old French]].

When Spanish [[explorers]] in the 16th century first encountered the Baja California Peninsula, west of the [[Sea of Cortez]], they believed the peninsula to be an island similar to the island described in de Montalvo's novel.<ref>Ford, pp. 11.</ref> They named the land California. Initially, California applied only to Baja California Peninsula; however, as Spanish explorers and settlers moved north and inland, the region known as California, or Las Californias, grew. Eventually it included not only the peninsula, but also the lands north of the peninsula, along the coast of today's U.S. state of California. Unlike the peninsula, this region was only practical to reach by sea voyages, and acquired a separate identity: [[Alta California|Alta (''Upper'') California]], making the lower territory [[Baja California|Baja (''Lower'') California]].

Today, the name ''California'' is shared by [[California (disambiguation)#Places|many places]] throughout the world, but is most commonly associated with areas of the southwest [[United States]], and northwest [[Mexico]]. When used alone, ''California'' generally refers to the [[U.S. state]] of [[California]], but when paired with the term "baja", or "lower", it can refer to the [[Baja California Peninsula]], or one of the Mexican states on the peninsula, [[Baja California]], or [[Baja California Sur]]. Collectively, the U.S. and Mexican states constitute a region referred to as [[The Californias]].

== ''Las sergas de Esplandián'' origin theory ==
[[File:Detail of Queen Califia in the "California's Name" mural (Lucile Lloyd, 1937) (cropped).gif|thumb|right|[[Queen Calafia]], as depicted in ''California's Name'', a 1937 mural by [[Lucile Lloyd]], located at the [[California Capitol]].]]
In the early 16th-century romance novel ''[[Las sergas de Esplandián]]'' (''The'' ''Adventures'' ''of'' ''Esplandián''), ''California'' was the name of a mythical island populated only by black warrior women. The popular Spanish novel was printed in several editions, with the earliest surviving edition published about 1510. The author was [[Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo]], also known as Ordóñez de Montalvo. The novel described the [[Island of California]] as being east of the [[East Indies|Indies]], close to the [[Terrestrial Paradise]], and ruled by Queen [[Calafia]].

For many years the de Montalvo novel languished in obscurity, with no connection between it and the naming of California. That changed in 1862 when [[Edward Everett Hale]] made such a connection.{{sfn|Hale|1862|p=45}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Price|first=Arthur L.|title=How California Got Its Name|agency=The San Francisco Sunday Call|volume=CXIL|number=156|publisher=The San Francisco Call|date=November 3, 1912|location=San Francisco, California|page=Magazine Section, Part 1}}</ref> He presented his findings to [[Antiquarian society|the Antiquarian Society]] that year, and then laid out his findings, along with a portion of the original novel, in the March 1864 issue of the ''[[The Atlantic Monthly|Atlantic Monthly]]''.{{sfn|Hale|1864|p=265}} Hale concluded that when Spanish explorers came upon the Baja California Peninsula, they named it California, after the fictional island in de Montalvo's book, because the explorers thought the peninsula was an island, east of the Indies, similar to the island described in de Montalvo's novel.

:An excerpt from the novel, where California is first mentioned, using a contemporary Spanish translation:
<!-- Please leave the paragraph of Spanish intact here, quotation might as well remain. -->
<blockquote>{{lang|es|Sabed que a la diestra mano de las Indias existe una isla llamada '''California''' muy cerca de un costado del Paraíso Terrenal; y estaba poblada por mujeres negras, sin que existiera allí un hombre, pues vivían a la manera de las amazonas. Eran de bellos y robustos cuerpos, fogoso valor y gran fuerza. Su isla era la más fuerte de todo el mundo, con sus escarpados farallones y sus pétreas costas. Sus armas eran todas de oro y del mismo metal eran los arneses de las bestias salvajes que ellas acostumbraban domar para montarlas, porque en toda la isla no había otro metal que el oro.}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Rodríguez de Montalvo|first=Garci|author-link=Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo|year=1526|orig-year=1496|title=Las sergas de Esplandián|trans-title=The Adventures of Esplandián|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZWcBYnKWya0C&q=%22California%22&pg=PA187|language=es|quote={{lang|es|Sabed que ala diestra mano de las Indias ouo una Isla llamada California mucho llegada ala parte del paraiso terrenal la qual sue poblada de mugeres negras sin que algun uaro entre ellas ouiesse: que casi como las amazonas …}}}} (The first mention of "California" occurs on the unnumbered page after page CVIII, in the right column.)</ref></blockquote>

:The English translation, as it appeared in the ''Atlantic Monthly'' in March 1864:
{{blockquote| ''Know, then, that, on the right hand of the Indies, there is an island called '''California''', very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise, and it was peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they lived in the fashion of Amazons. They were of strong and hardy bodies, of ardent courage and great force. Their island was the strongest in all the world, with its steep cliffs and rocky shores. Their arms were all of gold, and so was the harness of the wild beasts which they tamed and rode. For, in the whole island, there was no metal but gold.''{{sfn|Hale|1864|p=266}} }}

:–''Las sergas de Esplandián'', (novela de caballería)
::by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo.
::Published in [[Seville]] in 1510.

Hale supposed that in inventing the names, de Montalvo held in his mind the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] word {{lang|es|califa}}, the term for a leader of an Islamic community.{{sfn|Polk|1995|p=130}} Hale's joint derivation of {{lang|es|Calafia}} and {{lang|es|California}} was accepted by many, then questioned by a few scholars who sought further proof, and offered their own interpretations. [[George Davidson (geographer)|George Davidson]] wrote in 1910 that Hale's theory was the best yet presented, but offered his own addition.{{sfn|Putnam|1917|pp=293–294}} In 1917, [[Ruth Putnam (author)|Ruth Putnam]] printed an exhaustive account of the work performed up to that time. She wrote that both {{lang|es|Calafia}} and {{lang|es|California}} most likely came from the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] word {{Transliteration|ar|[[khalifa]]}} which means steward,{{efn|The word {{Transliteration|ar|khalifa}} {{lang|ar|[[Caliph|خلیفة]]}} has a strong religious connotation in Arabic because the Quran states that man is the ''steward'' of God's earth, implying that he is neither its owner nor inheritor [Sura Al-Baqara 2:30].}} successor or leader. The same word in Spanish was {{lang|es|califa}}, easily made into {{lang|es|California}} to stand for "land of the caliph" ({{lang|ar|خلیف}}), or {{lang|es|Calafia}} to stand for "female caliph" ({{lang|ar|خلیفة}}).{{sfn|Putnam|1917|p=356}} She also suggested ''California'' might have been inspired by ''Califerne'' in ''The Song of Roland''.

=== Possible inspiration for Montalvo ===
Most scholars agree that Montalvo's ''Las sergas de Esplandián'' is the direct progenitor of the word ''California''. However, no one knows absolutely how Montalvo derived the word—whether he invented it himself, formed it from the Arabic word ''khalifa'',<ref>{{Cite journal |first1= Erwin G. |last1= Gudde |title= The Name California |journal= Names: Journal of the American Name Society |volume= 2 |issue= 2 |pages= 132 |publisher= American Name Society |date= June 1954 |url= https://ans-names.pitt.edu/ans/article/view/75/74 |doi= 10.1179/nam.1954.2.2.121 |doi-access= free }}</ref> or was inspired by other works. Several unprovable theories have been put forward.<ref name=Austin1923>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41169718 |title=New Light on the Name of California |last=Austin |first=Herbert D. |date=1923 |journal=Annual Publication of the Historical Society of Southern California |volume=12 |number=3 |pages=29–31 |doi=10.2307/41169718 |jstor=41169718 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Hunt1926>{{cite book |last=Hunt |first=Rockwell Dennis |authorlink=Rockwell D. Hunt |date=1926 |title=California and Californians |volume=1 |publisher=Lewis Publishing |chapter=The Name California |pages=55–67}}</ref>

==== ''Califerne'' in ''Song of Roland'' ====
[[Ruth Putnam (author)|Putnam]] wrote that Montalvo's ''California'' might have been inspired by {{lang|fro|Califerne}}, a mysterious place mentioned in ''[[The Song of Roland]]'',{{sfn|Putnam|1917|p=357}} and perhaps named thus because it was the caliph's domain, a place of infidel rebellion.{{sfn|Polk|1995|p=130}}<ref name="Maas1">{{cite web|first=Georgia|last=Maas|date=April 26, 2000|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000426|title=The Maven's Word of the Day – California|publisher=Random House|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011221113408/http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000426|archive-date=December 21, 2001|access-date=December 17, 2017}}</ref> Chapman elaborated on this connection in 1921: "There can be no question but that a learned man like Ordóñez de Montalvo was familiar with ''The Song of Roland''...This derivation of the word ''California'' can perhaps never be proved, but it is also plausible—and it may be added too interesting—to be overlooked."{{sfn|Chapman|1921|pp=63–64}} Polk characterized this theory as "imaginative speculation".{{sfn|Polk|1995|p=131}}

Polk wrote that another scholar offered the "interestingly plausible" suggestion that Roland's ''Califerne'' is a corruption of the Persian {{Transliteration|fa|Kar-i-farn}}, a mythological "[[Sacred mountains|mountain of Paradise]]" where [[griffins]] lived.{{sfn|Polk|1995|p=131}}

French historian {{ill|Prosper Boissonnade|es}} wrote in 1923 that a fortified city named Kal-Ifrene or Kalaa-Ifrene was located about four days march south of Bougie in [[Algeria]]. In the [[11th century]] the city was an Arabic stronghold, manned by the [[Berbers|Berber tribe]] of the [[Banu Ifran|Beni-Ifrene]] under their king Beni-Hammad. The city was feared and respected by Christian warriors of the [[Crusades]]. Based on his studies, Boissonnade felt that this city was the Califerne found in ''Song of Roland'', and that it inspired Montalvo in turn.<ref>{{cite book |first1= Prosper |last1= Boissonnade |title= Du nouveau sur la Chanson de Roland. La genèse historique, le cadre géographique, le milieu, les personnages, la date et l'auteur du poème |trans-title= News on the Chanson de Roland. Historical genesis, geographical setting, environment, characters, date and author of the poem |location= Paris |publisher= Édouard Champion |date= 1923 |url= https://archive.org/details/dunouveausurlach00boisuoft |access-date= 15 January 2025}}</ref> Contemporary California historians Herbert D. Austin and [[Rockwell D. Hunt]] wrote separately that this was a likely explanation.<ref name=Austin1923/><ref name=Hunt1926/>

:The original French verse CCIX (lines 2920–2924):
{{lang|fro|<poem>Morz est mis nies, ki tant me fist cunquere
Encuntre mei revelerunt li Seisne,
E Hungre e Bugre e tante gent averse,
Romain, Puillain et tuit icil de Palerne
E cil d'Affrike e cil de '''Califerne''';</poem>}}

:An English translation of verse CCIX (lines 2920–2924):
<poem>Dead is my nephew, who conquered so much for me!
Against me will rebel the Saxons,
Hungarians, Bulgars, and many hostile men,
Romans, Apulians, and all those of Palermo,
And those of Africa, and those of '''Califerne''';</poem>

:–''Song of Roland'', Verse CCIX (lines 2920–2924), 11th century{{efn|The original text for the ''Song of Roland'', and English translation, follows [[Charles Scott Moncrieff]] (London, 1919), as reproduced at ''Orbis Latinus''; many variant texts exist.}}

==== Greek word ''kalli'' ====
Putnam discussed Davidson's 1910 theory that Montalvo's ''California'' was based on the Greek word {{Transliteration|grc|kalli}} (meaning beautiful) but discounted it as exceedingly unlikely,{{sfn|Putnam|1917|p=356}} a conclusion that Dora Beale Polk agreed with in 1995, calling the theory "far-fetched".{{sfn|Polk|1995|p=130}}

== Other origin theories ==
Several alternate theories have been proposed as possible origins of the word ''California'', but they all have been dismissed, or at least determined by historians to be less compelling than the novel, ''Las sergas de Esplandián''. Some of the most studied alternate theories include the following.

=== Calida Fornax ===
This term could derive from the Old Spanish *{{lang|osp|Calit Fornay}}, an alteration of the Latin {{lang|la|Calida Fornax}}, meaning "hot furnace".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://etimologias.dechile.net/?California|language=es|work=Diccionario Etimológico|title=CALIFORNIA}}</ref>

This theory may explain why the circa 1650 map of the [[Island of California]] has the name as two words, "Cali Fornia."

The word California may signify that it is a place that is hot in the manner of a lime kiln; both [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] have similar words taken from the Latin roots {{lang|la|calcis}} (lime) and {{lang|la|fornax}} (oven).<ref name="Huguet1980">{{cite book|author=Josep Font i Huguet|title=Sentiment català|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJVaHDu15RoC&pg=PA179|year=1980|publisher=Josep Font i Huguet|isbn=978-84-300-3631-8|page=179|language=ca}}</ref>

=== Kali forno ===
Another suggested source is ''kali forno'', an indigenous phrase from one of the local [[Yuman–Cochimí languages|Baja languages]] or [[Indigenous languages of California|Californian languages]] meaning "high mountains".<ref>According to the [http://www.srcalifornia.com/cal-chron.htm Chronology of California History] (accessed 1 April 2006) on the site of [[Sons of the Revolution]] in California, Mexican priest Miguél Venegas put forth this theory in 1757.</ref><ref name="SFRJS 2023">{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Jeff | title=Cortés Looks for Amazons | website=San Diego Reader | date=2001-09-13 | url=https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2001/sep/13/cortez-looks-amazons/ | access-date=2023-06-02}}</ref> However, the name "California" was printed in Montalvo's book before Spanish explorers spoke with Native Americans.

=== Calahorra ===
Another possible source for California's name may be [[Calahorra]] in Spain.<ref name="Maas1" />

== Application of the name ==
[[File:California island Vinckeboons5.jpg|right|thumb|The [[Island of California]], from a map {{c.|1650}} (restored)]]
[[Hernán Cortés]] is often credited with being the first to apply the name ''California'' to the Baja Peninsula, but researchers believe it was more likely one of the men he assigned to do some advance exploration of the South Sea. [[Diego de Becerra]] and [[Fortún Ximénez]], under the direction of Cortés, landed near the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula in 1533. They were the earliest explorers who would likely have applied the name California to the peninsula, thinking it was an island.<ref>{{cite book|title=Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States|last=Stewart|first=George|author-link=George R. Stewart|year=1945|publisher=Random House|location=New York|pages=11–17}}</ref> Cortés did not reach the Baja peninsula until 1535, when he tried unsuccessfully to establish a colony that he named Santa Cruz (modern-day [[La Paz, Baja California Sur|La Paz]]). Captain [[Bernal Díaz del Castillo|Bernal Diaz del Castillo]], a soldier under Cortés, later used the name ''California'' in his memoirs in reference to Cortés's discovery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moriarty |first=James R. |date=January 1965 |title=The Discovery & Earliest Explorations of Baja California |url=https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/1965/january/discovery-2/#:~:text=In%20April%20of%201535%20Cort%C3%A9s,return%20and%20to%20answer%20charges. |journal=The Journal of San Diego History |volume=11 |issue=1 |via=San Diego History Center}}</ref>

It has also been suggested that [[Hernando de Alarcón]], sent by the [[Antonio de Mendoza|viceroy Mendoza]]—an enemy of Cortés—on a 1540 expedition to verify Cortés's discoveries, referred to the inhospitable lands as ''California'', and it was he who named the peninsula after the fabled island in ''Las sergas''. There is no question about Hernando de Alarcón's use of the term, nor about his allusion to ''Las sergas'', but there is question as to whether this is the first use of the name to refer to those lands and whether he intended the name as mockery. Alarcón provides a clear link from the literary, imaginary California to the real place, but his usage cannot be proven to be the actual origin, in that the name may predate him.<ref>''Descubrimientos y Exploraciones en las Costas de California 1532–1650'' ("Discoveries and Explorations on the Coasts of California 1532–1650", Madrid, 1947; 2ª edición 1982, pp. 113–141): relevant passage quoted and cited at [http://etimologias.dechile.net/?California Etimología de California] on etimologias.dechile.net. Retrieved 1 April 2006.</ref><ref>[http://www.bajacalifornia.gob.mx/portal/nuestro_estado/historia/primeras_exploraciones.jsp Primeras Exploraciones] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140115172528/http://www.bajacalifornia.gob.mx/portal/nuestro_estado/historia/primeras_exploraciones.jsp |date=2014-01-15 }} ("First explorations") on Portal Ciudadano de Baja California, on the official site of the [[Baja California]] state government. Retrieved 1 April 2006.</ref>

Today the name ''California'' is applied to the [[Baja California Peninsula]], the [[Gulf of California]] (also known as the Sea of Cortés), the U.S. State of [[California]], and the Mexican states of [[Baja California]] and [[Baja California Sur]].

== See also ==
* [[California (disambiguation)]]
* [[Etymology]]
* [[Toponymy]]
* United States
** [[History of California]]
** [[History of California before 1900]]
** [[List of state and territory name etymologies of the United States]]
* Mexico
** [[History of Mexico]]
** [[List of Mexican state name etymologies]]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Chapman|first=Charles E.|title=A history of California: the Spanish period|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorycalifor01chapgoog|year=1921|publisher=Macmillan}}
* {{cite book|last=Davidson|first=John|title=The origin and the meaning of the name California|url=https://archive.org/details/originmeaningofn00davi|year=1910|publisher=Geographical Society of the Pacific|location=San Francisco}}
* {{cite book|last=de Montalvo|first=Garci Rodríguez|author-link=Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo|translator=William Thomas Little|year=1992|title=Las sergas de Esplandián|trans-title=The labors of the very brave Knight Esplandián|publisher=Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies, State University of New York at Binghamton|location=[[Binghamton, New York]]|volume=92|series=Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies|isbn=0866981063}}
* {{cite book|last=Ford|first=Tirey L.|title=Dawn and the Dons; The Romance of Monterey|date=1926|publisher=A. M. Robertson|location=San Francisco, California}}
* {{cite magazine|last=Hale|first=Edward Everett|title=The Queen of California|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.42553197&view=1up&seq=279&q1=queen%20of%20california|pages=265–279|magazine=The Atlantic Monthly|date=March 1864|volume=13|issue=77}}
* {{cite journal|last=Hale|first=Edward Everett|title=The Name California|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6hJAAQAAMAAJ&q=American+antiquarian+society+1862|journal=Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society at the Hall of the American Academy in Boston|date=30 April 1862|pages=45–53|access-date=27 July 2020}}
* {{cite book|last=Polk|first=Dora Beale|year=1995|title=The Island of California: A History of the Myth|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|isbn=0803287410}}
* {{cite book|last=Putnam|first=Ruth|editor=Herbert Ingram Priestley|title=California: the name|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924008278347|year=1917|publisher=University of California|location=Berkeley}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|last=MacDonald|first=Gregory|title=Isle of the Amazons In the Vermilion Sea|date=2019|publisher=39 West Press|location=Kansas City, MO|isbn=978-1-946358-14-1}} An anthology of writings that describe Baja California, and the Gulf of California, from sources dated from the mid-sixteenth century to present.

== External links ==
* Short radio episode '''''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100221022615/http://californialegacy.org/radio_anthology/scripts/montalvo.html Terrestrial Paradise]''''', from ''Las sergas de Esplandián.'' [[California Legacy Project]].

{{California}}
{{California history|collapsed}}
{{Baja California}}
{{Baja California Sur}}
{{Mexico topics}}
{{History of North America}}

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