America
Most people know that America is named after Amerigo Vespucci, but few know why. Two myths about Vespucci are common. The first is that Vespucci was a fraud who never traveled to the New World. The second is that he was the first European to set foot on mainland America. Both are untrue.
Vespucci made two trips to the New World as a ship’s navigator, the first in 1499. Then in 1503 and 1504 he published two letters he had written to Lorenzo de Medici about his voyages. In the letters he put forward the idea that what Columbus had discovered was not in fact a new route to Asia, but rather a new continent. Vespucci also published the first letter under the title Novus Mundus, or New World, thereby coining that phrase. The letters were a media hit (but whether their popularity was because of his innovative navigational theories or his description of the sex lives of American Indians is a question), and Vespucci became a celebrity.
In 1507, the cartographer Martin Waldseemüller published a map in his book Cosmographiae Introductio that designated the new world as America and the name was coined. Like many Italians of his era, Vespucci used the Latinized version of his first name, Americus, in formal writing. Waldseemüller used the feminine form of the name, America, because the names of Europe and Asia were also in the feminine.
So, America is named after the man who first recognized that it was a new continent and not just a part of Asia. Rather fitting actually, at least from a European perspective.
There is a legend, common in Britain, that America is actually named after a 15th century Bristol merchant named Richard Ameryk, who had some tenuous and vague connection with Cabot’s voyages of exploration (exactly what role he played is not known, but it was probably minor and connected with financing the voyages). While Ameryk did exist, there is no evidence to indicate the New World continents are named after him. Waldseemüller’s notes clearly indicate that he named the continents after Vespucci and most of the claims by supporters of the Ameryk hypothesis are not supported by anything other than a coincidence in spelling and a fierce, English patriotism that wishes the tale were true.
(Sources: Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd Edition; Library of Congress)
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Copyright 1997-2007, by David Wilton
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I have read in numerous sources that the origin of the name America was not the explorer Amerigo as most believe. It comes from the Mayan word Amaruca, “Land of the Plumed Serpents” (winged serpents, aka the caduceus, symbol of medicine, money, drugs, dragons and kundalini).
The chief god of the Maya in Central America is Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. In Peru, this god is called Amaru (as in Tupac Amaru, the last defender killed by the Spaniards) and the territory known as Amaruca. Amaruca is literally translated “Land of the Plumed Serpents.” The tribe of Amaru still exists in Peru today.
I forget the scholarly reference I have now, but when I remember I will edit this post.
A quick search yielded the following (unreferenced) quote from this website: http://www.amaruca.com/
In the most prevalent versions of American history, the origin of the name America is attributed to the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. This popular distortion of the true origin of the native Amaruca, which translates as: Land of the Great Plumed Serpent, may be finally gaining more credibility among scholars to restore the name Amaruca to it’s rightful place.
Recent discoveries in Peru may lead to more conclusive evidence concerning the relationships between North and South American indigenous peoples. As discoveries continue to unearth ancient Incan cities, writings pertaining to the mysterious origins of Amaruca are sure to be found. The Incas abandoned their towns and cities and retreated from the treasure-hunting Spanish invaders after the Conquistadors captured and executed the last Incan leader, Tupac Amaru, in 1572. Some of the cities have since been rediscovered, but many more are believed to lie hidden in the dense jungle.
-Evan
First of all, that web site is all wet. The Incans never developed writing, so it’s not very likely that we’ll find evidence in yet-to-be-discovered Incan writings.
This case looks to be another “they sound alike, therefore they must be etymologically related.” Spurious resemblances among unrelated words occur all the time. Just because a word looks or sounds like another, doesn’t mean they’re related. It’s not at all surprising that we find one or more words in Native American languages that happen to resemble “America.”
I have not heard this particular origin story before, but there is another Native American origin that is often claimed, referring to a Amerrique Indians of Central America. But it turns out, this name comes from Europeans, so-called because the Indians lived in America.
The origin of “America” is extremely well attested. It is rare that we have notes by the coiner on exactly why a term was chosen, but in America’s case, Waldseemueller tells us exactly why he used that name.