What is the origin of the name of the state Pennsylvania?

Answer 1

; Pennsylvania : American colony, later U.S. state, 1681, lit. "Penn's Woods," a hybrid formed from the surname Penn (Welsh, lit. "head") + L. sylvania (see sylvan). Not named for William Penn, the proprietor, but, on suggestion of Charles II, for Penn's late father, Admiral William Penn (1621-70), who had lent the king the money that was repaid in the form of land for a Quaker settlement in America. Penn wanted to call it New Wales, but the king's secretary, a Welshman of orthodox religion, wouldn't hear of it. Pennsylvania Dutch is attested from 1824. Pennsylvanian in ref. to a geological system is attested from 1891.

; sylvan : 1565, "deity of the woods," from M.Fr. sylvain, from L. silvanus "pertaining to wood or forest" (originally only in silvanæ "goddesses of the woods"), from silva "wood, forest, grove," of unknown origin. Adj. meaning "of the woods" is attested from 1580. Silvanus was used by the Romans as the proper name of a god of woods and fields, identified with Pan. Spelling with -y- infl. by Gk. hyle "forest," from which the L. word was supposed to derive.

Answer 2

The name was given to the Colony by King Charles II in honor to Admiral Sir William Penn.

Answer 3

"Pennsylvania" means "Penn's Woods" and was named for the father of William Penn, the colony's founder. The Latin word sylvania means "forests" or "woods".

Answer 4

Penn's Woods

Answer 5

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.