Editing Sierra Nevada (section)

==Name and etymology==
[[File:Sierra Nevada-terabass.jpg|thumb|right|Kearsarge Lakes Basin is named after the [[USS Kearsarge (1861)|USS Kearsarge]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Farquhar |first=Francis P. |year=1926 |title=Place Names of the Sierra Nevada |chapter-url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/place_names_of_the_high_sierra/k.html |chapter=K |publisher=Sierra Club |location=San Francisco |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060313051653/http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/place_names_of_the_high_sierra/k.html |archive-date=March 13, 2006}}</ref>{{efn|The ship was named after [[Mount Kearsarge (Merrimack County, New Hampshire)|Mount Kearsarge]] in New Hampshire, see {{cite web |url=http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/battleships/kearsarge/bb5-kear.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921170313/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/battleships/kearsarge/bb5-kear.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 21, 2015 |title=''Kearsarge'' (BB-5) |date=February 23, 2005 |work=[[Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]] |publisher=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] (NHHC) |access-date=December 15, 2012}}}}]]
Used in 1542 by [[Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo]] to describe a [[Pacific Coast Ranges|Pacific Coast Range]] ([[Santa Cruz Mountains]]), the term "Sierra Nevada" was a general identification of less familiar ranges toward the interior.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Farquhar |first=Francis P. |date=March 1925 |title=Exploration of the Sierra Nevada |journal=California Historical Society Quarterly |url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/exploration_of_the_sierra_nevada/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430102951/http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/exploration_of_the_sierra_nevada/ |archive-date=April 30, 2011 |doi=10.2307/25177743 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=3–58 |url-status=dead |jstor=25177743 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015049981668 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> In 1776, [[Pedro Font]]'s map applied the name to the range currently known as the Sierra Nevada.<ref>{{cite book |last=Farquhar |first=Francis P. |year=1926 |title=Place Names of the Sierra Nevada |chapter-url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/place_names_of_the_high_sierra/s.html |chapter=S |publisher=Sierra Club |location=San Francisco |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240525083103/https://www.webcitation.org/5yfLF5e68?url=http://www.yosemite.ca.us/library/place_names_of_the_high_sierra/s.html |archive-date=May 25, 2024}}</ref>

The literal translation is "snowy mountains", from ''sierra'' "a range of mountains", 1610s, from Spanish {{lang|es|sierra}} "jagged mountain range", lit. "saw", from Latin {{lang|la|serra}} "a saw"; and from the Spanish adjective {{lang|es|nevado}} "snowy".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sierra |title=Sierra |work=Etymology Online |access-date=February 27, 2011 |archive-date=August 6, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806050722/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sierra |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nevada |title=Nevada |work=Etymology Online |access-date=February 27, 2011 |archive-date=August 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829100923/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Nevada |url-status=live }}</ref>

While many mountain ranges are unanimously referred to in the plural ([[The Smokies|Smokies]], [[Rockies]], [[Cascade Range|Cascades]], etc.), some locals who live in "the Sierra" are not hesitant to admonish those who refer to the area as "the Sierras".<ref name=":1" />  However, there are historical and literary references that use the plural, such as the 1871 collection of [[Joaquin Miller]] poems, ''Songs of the Sierras''.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |first=Freda |last=Moon |title=Is it 'The Sierra' or 'The Sierras'? Californians can't agree |url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Sierra-vs-Sierras-Nevada-California-mountains-16325112.php |work=[[SFGATE]] |date=July 19, 2021 |access-date=January 28, 2023 |archive-date=January 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129012419/https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Sierra-vs-Sierras-Nevada-California-mountains-16325112.php |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=February 18, 1913 |title=POET OF THE SIERRAS, JOAQUIN MILLER, DIES; His Body to be Burned on Pyre at Mountain Home and Ashes Borne by Winds. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/02/18/archives/poet-of-the-sierras-joaquin-miller-dies-his-body-to-be-burned-on.html |access-date=July 30, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=July 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730220236/https://www.nytimes.com/1913/02/18/archives/poet-of-the-sierras-joaquin-miller-dies-his-body-to-be-burned-on.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ansel Adams]], in response to a publication of his photographs under the title ''[[Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras]]'', commented, "To add an ''s'' is a linguistic, Californian, and mountaineering sin."<ref>{{cite book |first=Ansel |last=Adams |author2=Mary Street Alinder |title=Ansel Adams: An Autobiography |publisher=NY: Little, Brown & Co |year=1996 |pages=65–66 |isbn=0-8212-2241-4}}</ref>