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:
“The origin of storms is not in clouds,
our lightning strikes when the earth rises,
spillways free authentic power:
dead John Brown’s body walking from a tunnel
to break the armored and concluded mind.”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)
“In the course of a life devoted less to living than to reading, I have verified many times that literary intentions and theories are nothing more than stimuli and that the final work usually ignores or even contradicts them.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)