Name of Tennessee

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Monument near the old site of Tanasi in Monroe County

The earliest variant of the name that became Tennessee was recorded by Spanish explorer Captain Juan Pardo when he and his men passed through a Native American village named "Tanasqui" in 1567 while traveling inland from modern-day South Carolina. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi (or "Tanase", in syllabary: ᏔᎾᏏ) in present-day Monroe County, Tennessee. The town was on a river of the same name (now known as the Little Tennessee River) and appears on maps as early as 1725. It is not known whether this was the same town as the one Juan Pardo encountered, but recent research suggests that Pardo's "Tanasqui" was at the confluence of the Pigeon River and the French Broad River, near modern Newport.[1]

The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain. Some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean "meeting place", "winding river", or "river of the great bend".[2][3] According to ethnographer James Mooney, the name "can not be analyzed", and its meaning is lost.[4]

The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, who used this spelling in his official correspondence during the 1750s. The spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlake's Draught of the Cherokee Country in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created "Tennessee County", the third county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee (Tennessee County was the predecessor to present-day Montgomery and Robertson counties). When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new state out of the Southwest Territory, it adopted "Tennessee" as the name of the state.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ Hudson, Charles M. (2005). The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Explorations of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566–1568. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press. pp. 36–40. ISBN 9780817351908 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Tennessee State Library and Archives FAQ". Nashville: Tennessee State Library and Archives. April 21, 2004. Archived from the original on October 23, 2004. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  3. ^ "Tennessee's Name Dates Back To 1567 Spanish Explorer Captain Juan Pardo". Tngenweb.org. January 1, 2005. Archived from the original on January 3, 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  4. ^ Mooney, James (1902). Myths of the Cherokee. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 534. ISBN 978-0-914875-19-2 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Langsdon 2000, p. 23.
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