Appalachian

Origin

From the name of a Native American village near present-day Tallahassee, Florida, transcribed in Spanish as Apalchen or Apalachen [a.paˈla.tʃɛn]. Originally the name of the Apalachee, a Muskogean people of northwestern Florida, perhaps from Apalachee abalahci "other side of the river" or Hitchiti (Muskogean) apalwahči "dwelling on one side"; compare Proto-Muskogean *apiCi (“stem, stalk”). The name was eventually used also for the tribe and for a region spreading well inland to the north. After the de Soto expedition in 1540, Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves.