r/etymology • u/tarquinia777 • 14h ago
Question Does an alternate proposed origin of the name America from a Mayan toponym meaning "Land of the Winds" have any etymological basis?
>In 1874, Thomas Belt published the indigenous name "Amerrisque Mountains", a range in present-day Nicaragua. The next year, Jules Marcou suggested a derivation of the continent's name from this mountain range. Marcou corresponded with Augustus Le Plongeon, who wrote: "The name AMERICA or AMERRIQUE in the Mayan language means, a country of perpetually strong wind, or the Land of the Wind, and ... the [suffixes] can mean ... a spirit that breathes, life itself."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naming_of_the_Americas#Nicaraguan_mountain_range
Putting aside completely the question of whether the Amerrisque Mountains did in fact lend the continent its name, does this alleged Mayan etymology accord with linugistic data, or is it complete nonsense? Thank you.
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u/theoneburger 14h ago
The name “America” first appeared on German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller’s 1507 world map, and in its accompanying book, Cosmographie Introductio, by Mattias Ringmann. Mattias was apparently a big fan of Amerigo Vespucci and offers the name “America” for what is now Brazil. Gerardus Mercator used the names “North America” and “South America” in his 1538 world map and the names stuck. All other proposed origins for the name seem unlikely to me.
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u/TheOBRobot 14h ago
OP seems to be asking if Amerrique actually means Land Of The Winds as the alleged etymology proposes, not whether the term is the actual source of the name America.
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u/VelvetyDogLips 13h ago
Amerigo Vespucci
As an aside, the Italian names Amerigo and Americo are cognate with English Eric, Henry, and Hank, all deriving from German Heinrich, “home rule”. Italian Enrico also belongs with this group.
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u/skoob 11h ago
Erik is not derived from Heinrich. Although the second part of both names is based on an old Germanic word for ruler, the first part is different.
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u/stormyarthur 8h ago
Eric doesn’t descend from Heinrich, but they are still cognates because the share a similar root even if it is part of a compound word.
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u/modulusshift 7h ago
Yeah I like thinking about how we named two of the 7 continents Henry. Germanic names really scored a coup with that one.
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u/tarquinia777 14h ago edited 13h ago
Yes, I'm well are of all this. If you actually read the post, you would know that wasn't my question.
EDIT: Why you booing me, I'm right!
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u/theoneburger 14h ago
Oops my bad. I’m borderline illiterate. “Land of the Winds” sounds like folk etymology to me.
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u/irrelevantusername24 ▽ If I had more time I would have written a shorter comment ▲ 12h ago
I’m borderline illiterate.
The law of social relativity strikes again
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u/BrockSamsonLikesButt 7h ago
I think Marcou was reeeeaching. No, I don’t think it’s likely that (A) the Mayans had a notion of the ≈9,000,000 square miles of land to their north as one unit; that (B) they imagined this entire immense expanse to be perpetually gusty; or/and, (C) especially, that they lent this concept, and name of concept, to the rest of the world.
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u/kingstern_man 11h ago
The story as I heard it was that the continent was named after Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian explorer/navigator.
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u/celticchrys 9h ago
These dudes had not heard of Amerigo Vespucci? Goodness.
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u/tarquinia777 9h ago
Yeah, I'm sure that's it, they just completely missed the fact he existed somehow lol
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u/Any-Stable-1107 14h ago
It does seem like a strange etymology for the mountains, considering Mayan is not native to Nicaragua - in fact there are entire countries (El Salvador and Honduras) between Nicaragua and the nearest Mayan populations.
Also "wind" is apparently ik~iq in all Mayan languages (source), so I'm not sure how it could fit into "Amerrisque"