, as depicted in ''California's Name'', a 1937 mural by
Lucile Lloyd, located at the
California Capitol. In the early 16th-century romance novel
Las sergas de Esplandián (
The Adventures of Esplandián),
California was the name of a mythical island populated only by black warrior women. The popular Spanish novel was printed in several editions, with the earliest surviving edition published about 1510. The author was
Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, also known as Ordóñez de Montalvo. The novel described the
Island of California as being east of the
Indies, close to the
Terrestrial Paradise, and ruled by Queen
Calafia. For many years the de Montalvo novel languished in obscurity, with no connection between it and the naming of California. That changed in 1862 when
Edward Everett Hale made such a connection. He presented his findings to
the Antiquarian Society that year, and then laid out his findings, along with a portion of the original novel, in the March 1864 issue of the
Atlantic Monthly. Hale concluded that when Spanish explorers came upon the Baja California Peninsula, they named it California, after the fictional island in de Montalvo's book, because the explorers thought the peninsula was an island, east of the Indies, similar to the island described in de Montalvo's novel. :An excerpt from the novel, where California is first mentioned, using a contemporary Spanish translation: :The English translation, as it appeared in the
Atlantic Monthly in March 1864: :–
Las sergas de Esplandián, (novela de caballería) ::by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. ::Published in
Seville in 1510. Hale supposed that in inventing the names, de Montalvo held in his mind the
Spanish word , the term for a leader of an Islamic community. Hale's joint derivation of and was accepted by many, then questioned by a few scholars who sought further proof, and offered their own interpretations.
George Davidson wrote in 1910 that Hale's theory was the best yet presented, but offered his own addition. In 1917,
Ruth Putnam printed an exhaustive account of the work performed up to that time. She wrote that both and most likely came from the
Arabic word which means steward, successor or leader. The same word in Spanish was , easily made into to stand for "land of the caliph" (), or to stand for "female caliph" (). She also suggested
California might have been inspired by
Califerne in
The Song of Roland.
Possible inspiration for Montalvo Most scholars agree that Montalvo's
Las sergas de Esplandián is the direct progenitor of the word
California. However, no one knows absolutely how Montalvo derived the word—whether he invented it himself, formed it from the Arabic word
khalifa, or was inspired by other works. Several unprovable theories have been put forward.
Califerne in Song of Roland Putnam wrote that Montalvo's
California might have been inspired by , a mysterious place mentioned in
The Song of Roland, and perhaps named thus because it was the caliph's domain, a place of infidel rebellion. Chapman elaborated on this connection in 1921: "There can be no question but that a learned man like Ordóñez de Montalvo was familiar with
The Song of Roland...This derivation of the word
California can perhaps never be proved, but it is also plausible—and it may be added too interesting—to be overlooked." Polk characterized this theory as "imaginative speculation". Polk wrote that another scholar offered the "interestingly plausible" suggestion that Roland's
Califerne is a corruption of the Persian , a mythological "
mountain of Paradise" where
griffins lived. French historian wrote in 1923 that a fortified city named Kal-Ifrene or Kalaa-Ifrene was located about four days march south of Bougie in
Algeria. In the
11th century the city was an Arabic stronghold, manned by the
Berber tribe of the
Beni-Ifrene under their king Beni-Hammad. The city was feared and respected by Christian warriors of the
Crusades. Based on his studies, Boissonnade felt that this city was the Califerne found in
Song of Roland, and that it inspired Montalvo in turn. Contemporary California historians Herbert D. Austin and
Rockwell D. Hunt wrote separately that this was a likely explanation. :The original French verse CCIX (lines 2920–2924): :An English translation of verse CCIX (lines 2920–2924): Dead is my nephew, who conquered so much for me! Against me will rebel the Saxons, Hungarians, Bulgars, and many hostile men, Romans, Apulians, and all those of Palermo, And those of Africa, and those of
Califerne; :–
Song of Roland, Verse CCIX (lines 2920–2924), 11th century
Greek word kalli Putnam discussed Davidson's 1910 theory that Montalvo's
California was based on the Greek word (meaning beautiful) but discounted it as exceedingly unlikely, a conclusion that Dora Beale Polk agreed with in 1995, calling the theory "far-fetched". == Other origin theories ==