Pennsylvania

The story

1. EnglishPenn
2. Proto-Indo-European*sel-der.?
3. Latinsilva
4. Latinsilvānus
5. Englishsylvan
6. English todayPennsylvania

From Penn (“William Penn”) + sylvan (“woods”) + -ia (“land”). On March 4, 1681, Charles II of England granted a land tract to William Penn for the area that now includes Pennsylvania. Penn then founded a colony there as a place of religious freedom for Quakers, and named it for the Latin sylva, silva (“wood”), thus Pennsylvania (“Penn’s woods”). Some propose that the Penn is derived from William’s more respected father, also named William Penn.