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''California'' is a place name used by three North American states: in the United States by the state of California, and in Mexico by the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. Collectively, these three areas constitute the region formerly referred to as Las Californias. The name ''California'' is shared by many other places in other parts of the world whose names derive from the original. The name "California" was applied to the territory now known as the state of California by one or more Spanish explorers in the 16th century and was probably a reference to a mythical land described in a popular novel of the time: ''Las Sergas de Esplandián''. Several other origins have been suggested for the word "California", including Spanish, Latin, South Asian, and Aboriginal American origins. All of these are disputed.〔See, for example, several theories cited at (Etimología de California ) on etimologias.dechile.net. Accessed 1 April 2006.〕 ''California'', called the Las Californias Province of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, originally referred to the entire region composed of the Baja California peninsula now known as Mexican Baja California and Baja California Sur, and upper mainland now known as the U.S. states of California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and Wyoming. After Mexico's independence from Spain, the upper territory became the Alta California province. In even earlier times, the boundaries of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean coastlines were only partially explored and California was shown on early maps as an island. The Sea of Cortez is also known as the Gulf of California. ==From the novel ''Las Sergas de Esplandián''== ''California'' was the name given to a mythical island populated only by beautiful Black Amazon warriors who used gold tools and weapons in the popular early 16th-century romance novel ''Las Sergas de Esplandián'' (The Adventures of Esplandián) by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. This popular Spanish novel was printed in several editions with the earliest surviving edition published about 1510. The novel described the Island of California as being east of the Asian mainland, "very close to the side of the Terrestrial Paradise; and it is peopled by black women, without any man among them, for they live in the manner of Amazons." The Island was ruled by Queen Calafia. When the Spanish started exploring the Pacific coast they applied this name on their maps to what is now called the Baja California Peninsula, which they originally thought was an island. Once the name was on the maps it stuck.
Know that on the right hand from the Indies exists an island called ''California'' very close to a side of the Earthly Paradise; and it was populated by black women, without any man existing there, because they lived in the way of the Amazons. They had beautiful and robust bodies, and were brave and very strong. Their island was the strongest of the World, with its cliffs and rocky shores. Their weapons were golden and so were the harnesses of the wild beasts that they were accustomed to taming so that they could be ridden, because there was no other metal in the island than gold.'' :–''Las Sergas de Esplandián, (novela de caballería)'' ::by García Ordóñez de Montalvo. ::Published in Seville in 1510. Since then, that unknown ''Amazon's Island'' came to be known as ''California''. For many years, the de Montalvo novel languished in obscurity, with no connection known between it and the name of California. In 1864, a portion of the original was translated by Edward Everett Hale for The Antiquarian Society, and the story was printed in the ''Atlantic Monthly'' magazine. Hale supposed that in inventing the names, de Montalvo held in his mind the Spanish word ''calif'', the term for a leader of an Islamic community.〔Polk, 1995, p. 130〕 Hale's joint derivation of ''Calafia'' and ''California'' was accepted by many, then questioned by a few scholars who sought further proof, and offered their own interpretations. George Davidson wrote in 1910 that Hale's theory was the best yet presented, but offered his own addition.〔Putnam, 1917, pp. 293–294〕 In 1917, Ruth Putnam printed an exhaustive account of the work performed up to that time. She wrote that both ''Calafia'' and ''California'' most likely came from the Arabic word ''khalifa'' which means steward〔The word ''khalifa'' خلیفه has a strong religious connotation in Arabic because the Quran states that Man is the ''steward'' of God's earth, implying that he is neither its owner or inheritor (Al-Baqara 2:30 ).〕 or leader. The same word in Spanish was ''califa'', easily made into ''California'' to stand for "land of the caliph" خلیف, or ''Calafia'' to stand for "female caliph" خلیفه .〔Putnam, 1917, p. 356〕 Putnam discussed Davidson's 1910 theory based on the Greek word ''kalli'' (meaning beautiful) but discounted it as exceedingly unlikely,〔 a conclusion that Dora Beale Polk agreed with in 1995, calling the theory "far-fetched".〔 Putnam also wrote that ''The Song of Roland'' held a passing mention of a place called ''Califerne'', perhaps named thus because it was the caliph's domain, a place of infidel rebellion.〔 Chapman elaborated on this connection in 1921: "There can be no question but that a learned man like Ordóñez de Montalvo was familiar with the ''Chanson de Roland'' ...This derivation of the word 'California' can perhaps never be proved, but it is too plausible—and it may be added too interesting—to be overlooked."〔Chapman, 1921, pp. 63–64〕 Polk characterized this theory as "imaginative speculation", adding that another scholar offered the "interestingly plausible" suggestion that Roland's ''Califerne'' is a corruption of the Persian ''Kar-i-farn'', a mythological "mountain of Paradise" where griffins lived.〔Polk, 1995, p. 131〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Etymology of California」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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