Un-American Weatherman Uses Arab Word: It's The End of Civilization!

[evildevil]

Haboobs to Be Renamed "Freedom Desert Dust".

‘Haboobs’ Stir Critics in Arizona

The massive dust storms that swept through central Arizona this month have stirred up not just clouds of sand but a debate over what to call them.

The blinding waves of brown particles, the most recent of which hit Phoenix on Monday, are caused by thunderstorms that emit

Comments

[x_butterfly19_x]

“How do they think our soldiers feel coming back to Arizona and hearing some Middle Eastern term?”

*snigger*

[hinoema]

But isn't 'soldier' French? And Arizona is definitely Spanish.

[romp]

Correction: how do they think our harmans feel coming back to Silverland?

"Arizona" may come from an Aztec language in which case it isn't even European!

[x_butterfly19_x]

Wont somebody think of the soldiers!

[hinoema]

Really? I thought it was jsut plain old Spanish. (Ari-zona, dry area.) Now I find this:

Arizona (the good oak tree)
http://www.nps.gov/tuma/planyourvisit/upload/Arizona.pdf

[thecityofdis]

No, 'ari' is not "dry" in Spanish, and it's not any Spanish word that I know of. (Though I'll admit to not being a native speaker.)

Most state names in the U.S. come from Native languages, so the link you provide isn't all that surprising to me.

[romp]

I too was taught it was Spanish but, yeah, the current thinking looks like it's Basque. (another link)