Where did the word Tennessee originate, and what does it mean?
state and river, from Cherokee (Iroquoian) village name ta’nasi’, of unknown origin. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php The word Tennessee comes from the Cherokee town Tanasi, which along with its neighbor town Chota was one of the most important Cherokee towns and often referred to as the capital city of the Overhill Cherokee. The meaning of the word “tanasi” is lost (Mooney, 1900). Some believe that Tanasi may mean “River with a big bend,” referring to the Tennessee River, or that the word Tanasi may have meant “gathering place”, as a reference to government or worship for the Native American tribes pre-existent to the pioneer era. http://www.answers.
It’s a Cherokee name, Tanasi, for one of their most important towns, nobody now knows what it might have meant, perhaps ‘gathering place’ for governmental and religious meetings, or ‘River with a big bend,’ the name was applied to the river by Anglo-American explorers before there was even a US. In the late 1780’s eight counties of North Carolina applied for admission to the Union as the state of Franklin, admission was denied and the counties returned to NC. In the 1790’s the counties were ceded to the US and organized as the Southwest Territory, it was admitted to the Union in 1796 with the name Tennessee, from the river.
