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From: jorge@arizona.UUCP (Jorge OchoaLions.)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: Daily linguistic tidbit: etymology of 'America'
Message-ID: <23058@arizona.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 28-Mar-85 16:00:00 EST
Article-I.D.: arizona.23058
Posted: Thu Mar 28 16:00:00 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Mar-85 01:51:52 EST
References: <518@ptsfa.UUCP> <1139@utastro.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Dept of CS, U of Arizona, Tucson
Lines: 32

> > But what is rarely mentioned is the origin of the first
> > name of this Italian navigator who explored the North American coast
> > after Columbus.
> > 
> > Rob Bernardo, Pacific Bell, San Francisco, California
> > {ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob
> 
> I was taught in school, long ago, that Vespucci never left Italy, and
> drew his maps entirely from written descriptions by later navigators who
> did.  Is this correct or not?
> 
> -- 
> Ed Nather
> Astronony Dept, U of Texas @ Austin
> {allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather

What I was taught was that Americo was the person who saw land for the first
time in the expedition with Columbus. While Columbus was in "La Santa Maria",
one of the three ships, Americo was in "La nin~a" ( tilde on top of 'n' ).
He was the 'actual' discoverer of this continent, eventhough Columbus is
credited by virtue of being the captain of the expedition.

What is interesting is the way these names were translated into latin for
the sake of records, but these people were Spanish sailors. Thus the name
being America instead of Ameriga.
-- 


 Jorge Daniel Ochoa-Lions  jorge@arizona

 Computer Science Department
 University of Arizona