Etymograph

English

Florida

Florida comes from Spanish florida ‘flowery’, and goes back to Latin floridus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfloridus‘flowery’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentflorida‘flowery’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2015Florida

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfloridus‘flowery’
  2. Spanishc. 1500–presentflorida‘flowery’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2015Florida

Earliest quotation: 2015, Tim Carvell et al., Municipal Violations: “In 2012 in Florida, a staggering 88% of all…”

The story

The state's name specifically is a shortening of la Florida (‘the flowery one’) or Pascua Florida (‘flowery Easter’). It is the oldest surviving European-given place-name in the US. The village in Orange County, New York was named in the 1760s from Latin flōrida (‘flowery’).

Every English word from Latin floridus

Today it means

name A state of the United States. Capital: Tallahassee. Largest city: Jacksonville.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin floridus / Florida

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