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How did Texas gets its name?

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Anonymous

13y ago
Updated: 8/16/2019

The state name originates from the Caddo Indian word "taysha" meaning "friends" or "allies."

'Texas' comes from the Caddo Indian tribe. The Spanish Conquistadors encountered the Caddo Indians around 1540 in the area of East Texas. The Caddos referred to the Spanish as "tayshas," which meant "friend" or "allies." The Spanish translation was "tejas." The Americans converted it to "Texas." In Spanish, the sh sound is usually represented by j, h, or x.

Bexar County, Texas, is properly pronounced Bay-HAR, though these days it's usually pronounced like the aspirin. The Spanish spelled Texas as Tejas, Tehas, and Texas but pronounced it TAY-hahs. Spanish vowels are pronounced ah, ay, ee, oh, and oo. There are no long or short vowels in Spanish. Americans, seeing the word spelled T-E-X-A-S and not knowing that in Spanish an X is not pronounced as such--it's pronounced 'ekkes'--pronounced the word in English as it was spelled.

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Wiki User

9y ago

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