The third set of twelve

It has been a crazy time these past few weeks and I may be a day late...or a day early depending on which way you look at it, but here goes. And once again, thank you to Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

We ended with Mississippi last time so I am going to start with Missiour.

Missouri is the Algonquin name for "muddy water". Now that was a no brainer. However, I thought the Algonquin tribes were in the New England area. Hmmmm. May have to do some research one.

Montana apparently comes from the Latin word for "mountainous". Now there's another teaser. Did a lot of Catholic Priests hang out in that part of the country? Did the Romans make it that far inland? I always thought it was the Big Sky Country but that would be too many words to fit into one, namely Montana.

Nebraska is an Otos word Indian word for "broad water." I thought that Nebraska was great corn country but prone to drought. I'll have to check that one out.

Nevada means snow-clad in Spanish. However, When I think of Nevada I think of the desert. Guess I have to think farther north.

New Hampshire was named by Capt. John Mason, one of the original settlers after his English home county of Hampshire. Now that makes sense.

New Jersey after the English Isle of Jersey. Is that where the cows came from?

New Mexico is, of course, Spanish for territory north of the Rio Grande. I understand some folks don't even think New Mexico is part of the lower 48 states.

New York? Well here come the English again. It was named after the Duke of York and Albany. Hence you get two for one.

North and South Carolina (we are killing two birds with one stone here)were named in honor of King Charles I of England. Man they got around.

North and South Dakota takes us back to the Sioux and is their word for friend or ally.

Ohio has three meanings in the Iroquois language: great, fine or good river. Take your pick.

Last but not least we have Oklahoma. I lived there for a while and have traveled through the state. They are some of the nicest people. Oklahoma means red man in Choctaw. Having lived there I am surprised it didn't mean red dust. I did a lot of daily dusting when I lived in Lawton.

Now we come to the end. Will meet with you next week in Oregon.