rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) (03/20/85)
It is widely known that 'America' comes from the Latinized version
('Americus Vespucius') of the name of Amerigo Vespucci.
But what is rarely mentioned is the origin of the first
name of this Italian navigator who explored the North American coast
after Columbus.
'Amerigo' (with the accent on the 'i') is the equivalent of 'Henry'
in some Italian dialect of his time. These two names come from the
Old High German name 'Heimerich', which is composed from 'heim'
[house, akin to English 'home'] and 'rihhi' [ruler]. This name was
Latinized as 'Henricus', whence French 'Henri', Italian 'Enrico',
Spanish 'Enrique', etc. But apparently the Old High German name
was separately brought into some Italian dialect as 'Amerigo'.
So 'America' "means" 'ruler of the roost', as it were.
--
Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California
{ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob
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\ / nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) (03/21/85)
> But what is rarely mentioned is the origin of the first > name of this Italian navigator who explored the North American coast > after Columbus. > > Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California > {ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob I was taught in school, long ago, that Vespucci never left Italy, and drew his maps entirely from written descriptions by later navigators who did. Is this correct or not? -- Ed Nather Astronony Dept, U of Texas @ Austin {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather
jorge@arizona.UUCP (Jorge OchoaLions.) (03/29/85)
> > But what is rarely mentioned is the origin of the first > > name of this Italian navigator who explored the North American coast > > after Columbus. > > > > Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California > > {ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob > > I was taught in school, long ago, that Vespucci never left Italy, and > drew his maps entirely from written descriptions by later navigators who > did. Is this correct or not? > > -- > Ed Nather > Astronony Dept, U of Texas @ Austin > {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather What I was taught was that Americo was the person who saw land for the first time in the expedition with Columbus. While Columbus was in "La Santa Maria", one of the three ships, Americo was in "La nin~a" ( tilde on top of 'n' ). He was the 'actual' discoverer of this continent, eventhough Columbus is credited by virtue of being the captain of the expedition. What is interesting is the way these names were translated into latin for the sake of records, but these people were Spanish sailors. Thus the name being America instead of Ameriga. -- Jorge Daniel Ochoa-Lions jorge@arizona Computer Science Department University of Arizona
mgv@duke.UUCP (Marco G. Valtorta) (03/29/85)
To correct a point: both Cristoforo Colombo and Amerigo Vespucci were Italian, not Spanish. A lot of research went on to determine where Colombo was born. Researchers have accumulated overwhelming evidence that he was from Genoa. Marco Valtorta
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (03/30/85)
> > What I was taught was that Americo was the person who saw land for the first > time in the expedition with Columbus. While Columbus was in "La Santa Maria", > one of the three ships, Americo was in "La nin~a" ( tilde on top of 'n' ). > He was the 'actual' discoverer of this continent, eventhough Columbus is > credited by virtue of being the captain of the expedition. > This is wrong. I don't know if Vespucci ever left Italy, but he was not on Columbus's first voyage
lindley@ut-ngp.UUCP (John L. Templer) (03/30/85)
Way back when I was in elementary school, I was taught that Amerigo
Vespuci was an Italian cartographer. He was one of the very first to
draw maps of the new world, and since the continent needed a name, he
named it after himself. The name caught on, and now Columbus is stuck
with a city in Ohio and a South American country! (:-)
--
John L. Templer
University of Texas at Austin
{allegra,gatech,seismo!ut-sally,vortex}!ut-ngp!lindley
"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose."msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader) (04/03/85)
lindley@ut-ngp.UUCP (John L. Templer) writes: > ... and now Columbus is stuck > with a city in Ohio and a South American country! (:-) Hey, don't forget the US federal district and a whole province of Canada! (Not to mention a fair number of other cities.) (PLEASE don't mention them.) Mark Brader