美國州名的由來

河北省阜城縣古城中學(xué) 張超 供稿

美國州名的由來

河北省阜城縣古城中學(xué) 張超 供稿

People who visit the United States sometimes want to know how the states got their names.Some of the most interesting names came from American Indian languages.

去美國的觀光的人有時想知道各州的名稱是從何而來的。其中一些最有趣的名字來源于美洲印第安人的語言。

For example，Illinois was named for the Indians who used to live in that part of the country.In their language，Illinois means“brave men”. Connecticut means“at the long river mouth”in the language of Indians who used to live there.

例如，伊利諾斯州是因為過去住在這一帶的印第安人而得名的。在他們的語言中，伊利諾斯是“勇士”的意思。康涅狄克州在過去住在那里的印第安人的語言中，表示“在長河的河口”。

Twenty-five of the states have Indian names，but other names were taken from different languages.Georgia and Pennsylvania have names which were taken from the Latin language.Florida and Colorado were named by Spanish people.States like New Hampshire and New Jersey were named after places in England.

有25個州是用印第安人的名字命名的，另外一些州的名字則從其他的語言中得來。喬治亞州和賓夕尼亞州的名字源于拉丁文。佛羅里達州和科羅拉多州是由西班牙人命名的。像新罕布什爾州和新澤西州這樣的州名是按英國的地名來命名的。

The two newest states have names which did not come from any of those languages.Hawaii got its name from a word in the Hawaiian language which means“homeland”.Alaska was named by the Russians，from whom Alaska was bought in 1867.

最新的兩個州的名字不來自于以上語言中的任何一種。夏威夷州是按夏威夷語中的一個詞命名的，意思是“家鄉(xiāng)”。阿拉斯加州是1867年從俄國人手里買來的，而它的名字也是由俄國人起的。