Other Origin Theories
There is general agreement that author García Ordóñez de Montalvo formed the place name "California" from the Spanish word califa, from the Arabic: خليفة ḫalīfah/khalīfah, the head of state in a Caliphate, a legacy of the Moorish empire within Spain from 757 to 1492. However, there are minor theories which differ. Astrologer Anne Wright wrote that the word California may signify that it is a place that is "hot as an oven", because in Catalan cal means hot and forn means oven. (From the Latin roots calida meaning hot and fornax meaning oven.
Another suggested source is kali forno, an indigenous phrase meaning "high mountains". However, the name "California" was printed in Montalvo's book before Spanish explorers spoke with native Americans.
Read more about this topic: Origin Of The Name California
Famous quotes containing the words origin and/or theories:
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)