LITMIR.BIZ

      ABALONE (ab uh LOH nee) POINT [Humboldt Co.]. The abalone, an edible shellfish, has given its name to several places in California. The term comes from Rumsen (Costanoan), in which awlun means “red abalone.”

      ACALANES (ah kuh LAH neez) [Contra Costa Co.]. Refers to a Indian tribe of the Miwokan family, living south of San Pablo and Suisun Bays, whom the Spanish called Sacalanes. The term Los Sacalanes was reinterpreted as Los Acalanes in the 1830s. The tribe is now usually referred to as Saklan.

      ACHUMAWI (ah choo MAH wee). An American Indian group of Shasta, Lassen, and Modoc Counties; also called the Pit River tribe. Their language is related to the neighboring Atsugewi. The alternative spelling Ahjumawi occurs in the name of Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park [Shasta Co.].

      ACRODECTES (ak roh DEK teez) PEAK [Kings Canyon N.P.]. Although the word resembles an Ancient Greek name, it does not exist in the ancient language; it is a zoological name, coined from Greek akros, “peak,” and dektēs, “biter,” to refer to Acrodectes philopagus, a rare species of cricket found only in the high Sierra.

      ADELANTO (ad uh LAN toh) [San Bernardino Co.]. A name given in recent times; the Spanish word means “progress” or “advance.”

      ADOBE (uh DOH bee) CREEK [Mendocino Co.]. The Spanish term adobe, found in many place names, refers to a claylike soil suitable for making bricks, to such bricks themselves, or to a building constructed from adobe bricks.

      AGASSIZ (AG uh see), MOUNT [Kings Canyon N.P.]. Named for Louis Agassiz, a Swiss-American scientist of the nineteenth century.

      AGNEW [Santa Clara Co.]. Named for Abram Agnew and his family, who settled in the Santa Clara Valley in 1873. The name was later applied to a state mental hospital at the site.

      AGOURA (uh GOO ruh) [Los Angeles Co.]. Named for Pierre Agoure, a Basque who had a ranch here in the 1890s.

      AGUA (AH gwuh). From the Spanish for “water”; the word occurs in many combinations to form place names, such as Agua Caliente (kal ee EN tee) [Sonoma Co.], “hot water” (i.e., hot springs); Agua Fria (FREE uh) [Mariposa Co.], “cold water”; Agua Dulce (DOOL see) [Los Angeles Co.], “sweet water”; and Agua Hedionda (hed ee AHN duh) [San Diego Co.], “stinking water” (probably referring to sulfur springs).

      AGUANGA (uh WAHNG guh) [Riverside Co.]. From a Luiseño village name, awáanga, “dog place,” from awáal, “dog.”

      AGUEREBERRY (AG er bair ee) POINT [Death Valley N.P.]. Named, using an alternative spelling, for “French Pete” Aguerreberry, a Basque miner who worked here around 1906.

      AHA KWIN (uh hah KWIN) PARK [Riverside Co.]. From Mojave ’ahá, “water,” and aakwín-, “to bend.”

      AHJUMAWI (ah joo MAH wee) LAVA SPRINGS STATE PARK [Shasta Co.]. Named for the Indian group (also spelled Achumawi), locally called the Pit River tribe, who are native to the area. Their name in their language, ajumaawi, “river people,” from ajuma, “river,” originally referred to the Fall River band of this tribe.

      AHWAHNEE (uh WAH nee) [Yosemite N.P]. From Southern Sierra Miwok awooni, “Yosemite Valley,” from awwo, “mouth.”

      AHWIYAH (uh WIE yuh) POINT [Yosemite N.P.]. From Southern Sierra Miwok awaaya, “lake” or “deep.” Mirror Lake was earlier called Ahwiyah Lake.

      ALABAMA HILLS [Inyo Co.]. The term was applied by Southern sympathizers in 1863, after the Confederate raider Alabama sank the Union warship Hatteras off the coast of Texas.

      ALAMAR (al uh MAHR) CANYON [Santa Barbara Co.]. From the Spanish for “place of poplar (or cottonwood) trees,” from álamo, “poplar (or cottonwood).”

      ALAMBIQUE (al uhm BEEK) CREEK [San Mateo Co.]. From the Spanish for “still,” a place where liquor is distilled. Moonshiners, it seems, once worked in the area.

      ALAMEDA (al uh MEE duh). Spanish for “grove of poplar (or cottonwood) trees,” from álamo, “poplar (or cottonwood),” or for a grove of shade trees in general. The term dates from 1794; it was applied to the city and to Alameda County in 1853.

      ALAMILLA (ah luh MEE yuh) SPRING [Amador

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