美国州名的由来

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.

去美国的观光的人有时想知道各州的名称是从何而来的。其中一些最有趣的名字来源于美洲印第安人的语言。

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，伊利诺斯州是因为过去住在这一带的印第安人而得名的。在他们的语言中，伊利诺斯是“勇士”的意思。康涅狄克州在过去住在那里的印第安人的语言中，表示“在长河的河口”。

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个州是用印第安人的名字命名的，另外一些州的名字则从其他的语言中得来。乔治亚州和宾夕尼亚州的名字源于拉丁文。佛罗里达州和科罗拉多州是由西班牙人命名的。像新罕布什尔州和新泽西州这样的州名是按英国的地名来命名的。

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.

最新的两个州的名字不来自于以上语言中的任何一种。夏威夷州是按夏威夷语中的一个词命名的，意思是“家乡”。阿拉斯加州是1867年从俄国人手里买来的，而它的名字也是由俄国人起的。endprint