• Carvex@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Illinois, pronounced Illinoy, is from an ancient Illini Indian word “Iliniwek”, meaning “fuck you white man go away”.

        You’ll find many city and land names around America translated loosely as the same, then some white people were probably like iT meAnS lArGe RiVeR and wrote that down instead.

          • tomenzgg@midwest.social
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            5 hours ago

            Roughly translated, it means, “We are men.” It’s a French term (as the French were the first to colonize the area) derived from the term “Illiniwek” which was used by the natives there to refer to (in English) the Illinois Confederation, a loosely organized group of 12 to 13 tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley.