GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
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22:56 Sep 9, 2002 |
Latin to English translations [Non-PRO] | ||||
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| Selected response from: Cristina Moldovan do Amaral United States Local time: 12:04 | |||
Grading comment
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Summary of answers provided | ||||
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4 +6 | California |
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California Explanation: The name was applied first to what is now called Baja California, around 1562, and later extended to Alta California, the present state of California. The term originally referred to a mythical land of Amazons, ruled by the beautiful black queen Calafia, as described in a Spanish novel, Las sergas de Esplandián (The Exploits of Esplandian), by Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2002-09-09 23:22:40 (GMT) -------------------------------------------------- This is the original California, named for Calafia, queen of the Amazons. A popular Spanish novel, published in 1500, romanticized this mythical race of giant warrior women. Their sun-baked island home was called California. Here, on what he thought was a desert island, conquistador Hernán Cortés first tried to land soldiers in 1530. The fierce Californians he encountered were Indian warriors, whose paintings of giants had already decorated the mountains for thousands of years. http://cabobob.baja.com/bajahwy.htm -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2002-09-09 23:24:53 (GMT) -------------------------------------------------- The origin of the name California itself goes back many centuries to the early exploration of the New World. Then as now, people believed that just over the horizon were unexplored lands of untold wealth and beautiful people. As a result of this, in the 15th century, Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo, a Spanish writer, created an island called California lying on the right-hand side of the Indies and very close to the Garden of Eden. As explorers returned to their ports, they told great tales of places such as California, often to encourage the financing of a new trip. The story about this mystical place grew. The Island of California, it was believed, was inhabited by a group of fierce, Amazon like and very beautiful black women. Their ruler was the most beautiful of them all, a queen named Calafia. The were magnificent in their armor and weaponry of pure gold, the only metal found on the island. They often sailed off in mighty ships to raid other lands, where they gathered treasure and captured men. Some men they kept, albeit temporarily, to insure that their race would not die out. Any male children born as a result of these unions were immediately killed as were most of the men they captured, other than the very few they felt they needed. Although earlier maps of the New World showed California as a portion of a larger continent, in 1525 one Henry Briggs produced a map that included Queen Calafia\'s land, depicting it as the Isle of California. Although almost immediately there were new, more accurate maps disagreeing with Briggs\' work, for a century or more other cartographers continued to copy his map. Myths are often more powerful than the truth. It is sometimes said that the armor clad lady on the Seal of the Great State of California represents Queen Calafia. However, the lady is actually Minerva (Athena), the goddess of wisdom. http://www.mtdemocrat.com/display/inn_1999_columnists/Doug N... Reference: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8131.html |
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