[OT] Spanish name for Texas?

[Paladin]

Actually the Spainish name for Texas is "Texas." The "Tejas" name is what the Indians (Native Americans) called Texas first. The Mexicans changed it for whatever reason. FYI, Tejas translates to "friends."

 

[Dragongirl]

Actually the Spainish name for Texas is "Texas." The "Tejas" name is what the Indians (Native Americans) called Texas first. The Mexicans changed it for whatever reason. FYI, Tejas translates to "friends."

Actually Horacio (from Spain) said that they used to spell it Tejas there, but now Texas is pretty standard.

 

[Horacio]

Actually Horacio (from Spain) said that they used to spell it Tejas there, but now Texas is pretty standard.

Well, my parents learnt to write it with 'j', I was taught to write it with 'x', but the pronunciation is still the same, with Spanish 'j', a bit as your 'h'.

 

[dave_o]

Eh. It's been a while since I've used my Spanish, but you could call it:

El Republic (Republico?) De La Una Estrella

Which should translate to "The Republic of the One Star", or "Lone Star Republic".

I'm sure Horacio knows a better word for "Lone".

 

[Hawkshere]

The term 'tejas' derives from the Caddo indians, who were the most sophisticated native civilization in the region when the european explorers arrived. There was an alliance of several tribes with a central government in the piney woods area of East Texas. Do a google search on Caddo for more info. Here is an interesting quote I found on one of the hit sites:

These Indians were never called savages, even by the earliest French and Spanish explorers who encountered them. In fact, they enjoyed a reputation that excited the imagination of the Spanish governor of the New Province of Texas. Domingo Teran de los Rios, made a trip to visit the Caddos in 1691.

He found a civilization known as Tejas, formed with an organized government, living in round wood and thatch dwellings and cultivating crops, including beans, corn, pumpkin, melons, and tobacco. They wore clothing of tanned deerskin, and made beautiful black leather using the brains of deer and buffalo. They decorated clothing with small white beads and fringe work and wore turkey feather garments on special occasions (Gleason). The Caddo were well-respected among other Indians for the beauty of their leather goods and pottery. They conducted annual trade fairs in their riverside communities, drawing tribesmen from other nations in for commerce. In addition to utilitarian items, they offered art pieces made of wood, shell and ceramics (Newkumet and Meredith 1988).

A large part of of the original Tejas civilization in now under a giant swamp (Caddo Lake). Also, the modern Texas town of Nacogdoches (where so much of of the shuttle debris landed ) started as a Tejas village.

 

[Desdichado]

At the time of the Mexican colonization, the 'x' was a letter in common use in Spanish which has since disappeared or become synonomous with the 'j'. At the time, it was used to represent the 'sh' sound that was common in many of the native languages of Mexico and Texas -- hence some local "Spanish" names have the 'x' in them, such as, well Mexico, Texas, Oaxaca, etc.

As said above, though, Texas is a Spanish word, borrowed from a local Indian dialect, and according to what I learned in grade school (as a Texas native -- we got lots of local history in grade school) it meant 'friends.'

 

[smetzger]

You mean Mexico?

Actually its:

Estados Unidos de Mexico

 

[Horacio]

Eh. It's been a while since I've used my Spanish, but you could call it:

El Republic (Republico?) De La Una Estrella

Which should translate to "The Republic of the One Star", or "Lone Star Republic".

I'm sure Horacio knows a better word for "Lone".

La República de la Estrella Solitaria

 

[KitanaVorr]

*rubs her forehead*

Oy vey....

 

[Quinn]

For more local flavor, the people who lived in Old Texas were often referred to as Texicans rather than Texans.