Editing Kentucky (section)

==Etymology==
Prior to 1769, [[Botetourt County, Virginia|Botetourt County]] and successor counties in the [[Colony of Virginia]], whose geographical extent was south of the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Allegheny River]]s beyond the [[Appalachian Mountains]], became known to European Americans as ''[[Fincastle County, Virginia|Kentucky (or Kentucke) country]]''. It was named for the [[Kentucky River]], a tributary of the Ohio.<ref>{{cite web |last=Johnson and Parrish |title=Kentucky River Development: The Commonwealth's Waterways |url=http://www.uky.edu/WaterResources/KCEWM/PDF/History%20of%20the%20Kentucky%20River.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111161541/http://www.uky.edu/WaterResources/KCEWM/PDF/History%20of%20the%20Kentucky%20River.pdf |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |website=University of Kentucky}}</ref>

The precise etymology of the name is uncertain.<ref>{{OEtymD|Kentucky|access-date=February 25, 2007}}
{{cite web |url=http://0-dictionary.oed.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/cgi/entry/50126019 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5QmSe2SRR?url=http://0-dictionary.oed.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/cgi/entry/50126019 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 2, 2007 |title=Kentucky |access-date=February 25, 2007 |website=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] }}</ref> One theory sees the word based on an [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]] name meaning "(on) the meadow" or "(on) the prairie"<ref name=Mithun>Mithun, Marianne. 1999. ''Languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pg. 312</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761554924/Kentucky.html |title=Kentucky |access-date=February 25, 2007 |encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030052538/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761554924/Kentucky.html |archive-date=October 30, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (cf. [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]] ''{{Lang|moh|kenhtà:ke}}'', [[Seneca language|Seneca]] ''{{Lang|see|gëdá'geh}}'' ([[Phoneme|phonemic]] {{IPA|/kɛ̃taʔkɛh/}}), "at the field").<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8uvs6Qw3pEC&pg=PA250 | title=Native American Place Names of Indiana | publisher=University of Illinois Press | author=McCafferty, Michael | year=2008 | page=250| isbn=9780252032684 }}</ref> Another theory suggests a derivation from the term ''{{Lang|alg|Kenta Aki}}'', which could have come from an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language]], in particular from [[Shawnee]]. Folk etymology translates this as "Land of Our Fathers". The closest approximation in another Algonquian language, [[Ojibwe]], translates as "Land of Our In-Laws", thus making a fairer English translation "The Land of Those Who Became Our Fathers".<ref>Nichols, John & Nyholm, Earl. ''Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe'', 1994.</ref> In any case, the word ''{{Lang|alg|aki}}'' means "land" in most Algonquian languages.