Editing Alabama (section)

== Etymology ==
The name of the [[Alabama River]] and state is derived from the [[Alabama people]], a [[Muskogean languages|Muskogean-speaking tribe]] whose members lived just below the [[confluence]] of the [[Coosa River|Coosa]] and [[Tallapoosa River|Tallapoosa]] rivers on the upper reaches of the river.<ref name="Read">{{Cite book |last=Read |first=William A. |title=Indian Place Names in Alabama |year=1984 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-0231-3 |oclc=10724679}}</ref> In the [[Alabama language]], the word for a person of Alabama lineage is {{lang|akz|Albaamo}} (or variously {{lang|akz|Albaama}} or {{lang|akz|Albàamo}} in different dialects; the plural form is {{lang|akz|Albaamaha}}).<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Sylestine, Cora |author2=Hardy, Heather |author3=[[Timothy Montler|Montler, Timothy]] |title=Dictionary of the Alabama Language |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-292-73077-9 |url=http://www.ling.unt.edu/~montler/Alabama/ |oclc=26590560 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024054330/http://www.ling.unt.edu/~montler/Alabama/ |archive-date=October 24, 2008}}</ref> The word's spelling varies significantly among historical sources.<ref name="ADAH1">{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/statenam.html |title=Alabama: The State Name |access-date=August 2, 2007 |website=All About Alabama |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628215841/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/statenam.html |archive-date=June 28, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The first usage appears in three accounts of the [[Hernando de Soto]] expedition of 1540: [[Inca Garcilaso de la Vega|Garcilaso de la Vega]] used {{lang|es|Alibamo}}, while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote ''Alibamu'' and ''Limamu'', respectively, in [[transliteration]]s of the term.<ref name="ADAH1"/>

As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the {{lang|fr|Alibamon}}, with French maps identifying the river as {{lang|fr|Rivière des Alibamons}}.<ref name="Read" /> Other spellings of the name have included ''Alibamu'', ''Alabamo'', ''Albama'', ''Alebamon'', ''Alibama'', ''Alibamou'', ''Alabamu'', and ''Allibamou''.<ref name="ADAH1" /><ref name="Wills">{{Cite book |last=Wills |first=Charles A. |title=A Historical Album of Alabama |year=1995 |publisher=The Millbrook Press |isbn=978-1-56294-591-6 |oclc=32242468 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historicalalbumo0000will_y2e2}}</ref><ref name="Griffith">{{Cite book |last=Griffith |first=Lucille |title=Alabama: A Documentary History to 1900|year=1972 |publisher=University of Alabama Press|isbn=978-0-8173-0371-6 |oclc=17530914}}</ref> The use of state names derived from [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|Native American languages]] is common in the U.S. An estimated 26 states have names of Native American origin.<ref name="Weiss">{{Cite book |last=Weiss |first=Sonia |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Baby Names |year=1999 |publisher=Macmillan USA |isbn=978-0-02-863367-1 |oclc=222611214 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu00weis_0}}</ref>

Sources disagree on the word's meaning. Some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw {{lang|cho|alba}} (meaning 'plants' or 'weeds') and {{lang|cho|amo}} (meaning 'to cut', 'to trim', or 'to gather').<ref name="ADAH1"/><ref name="Rogers">{{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=William W.|author2=Robert D. Ward|author3=Leah R. Atkins|author4=Wayne Flynt |title=Alabama: the History of a Deep South State |year=1994 |publisher=University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-0712-7 |oclc=28634588}}</ref><ref name="Swanton1">{{Cite journal |last=Swanton |first=John R. |author-link=John R. Swanton |year=1953 |title=The Indian Tribes of North America |journal=Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin |volume=145 |pages=153–174 |url=http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/swsts/alabam-1.htm |access-date=August 2, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070804025900/http://www.hiddenhistory.com/PAGE3/swsts/alabam-1.htm |archive-date=August 4, 2007 |url-status=live |hdl=2027/mdp.39015005395804}}</ref> The meaning may have been 'clearers of the thicket'<ref name="Rogers"/> or 'herb gatherers',<ref name="Swanton1"/><ref name="Swanton2">{{Cite journal |last=Swanton |first=John R. |author-link=John R. Swanton |year=1937 |title=Review of Read, Indian Place Names of Alabama|journal=American Speech|pages=212–215|issue=3 |doi=10.2307/452431 |volume=12 |jstor=452431 |issn=0003-1283}}</ref> referring to clearing land for cultivation<ref name="Wills"/> or collecting medicinal plants.<ref name="Swanton2"/> The state has numerous [[List of place names of Native American origin in Alabama|place names of Native American origin]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archives.alabama.gov/tours/Previsit_Indian.pdf |title=Southeastern Indian Place Names in what is now Alabama |year=1994 |website=Indian Place Names in Alabama |author=William A. Read |publisher=Alabama Department of Archives and History |access-date=October 3, 2011 |archive-date=October 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001052323/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/tours/Previsit_Indian.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Native American placenames of the United States |last=Bright |first=William |year=2004 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3576-2 |pages=29–559 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxzCm1qa4C |access-date=October 29, 2015 |archive-date=June 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617172237/https://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxzCm1qa4C |url-status=live}}</ref>

An 1842 article in the ''Jacksonville Republican'' proposed it meant 'Here We Rest'.<ref name="ADAH1"/> This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of [[Alexander Beaufort Meek]].<ref name="ADAH1"/> Experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation.<ref name="Read"/><ref name="ADAH1"/>