People who visit the United States sometimes wonder how the states got their names. Some of the most interesting names came from American Indian (印第安人) languages.
访问美国的人们常常想知道各个州的名称是从何而来的。一些最有趣的名字来源于(美州)印第安人的语言。
For example, Illinois was named for the Indians who used to (过去常常) live in that part of the country. In their language, Illinois means "Brave (勇敢的) Men". Connecticut means "At the Long River Mouth" in the language of the Indians who used to live there.
Twenty-five of the states have Indian names, but other names were taken from different languages. Georgia and Pennsylvania have names which were taken from the Latin (拉丁语的) language. Florida and Colorado were named by Spanish (西班牙) people. States like New Hampshire and New Jersey were named after (以…命名) places in England.
The two newest states have names which did not come from any of those languages. Hawaii got its name from a word in the Hawaiian language which means "homeland" (家乡). Alaska was named by the Russians, from whom Alaska was bought in 1867.