The meaning of the word Tamaulipas is "a place where people pray a lot." It is of Huastec origin. It is composed of the prefix «tam», which means «place where»; and "holipa", whose most common interpretation is "pray a lot", although there is no single accepted meaning.
The root "tam" also forms the names of other cities in the state. An example of this is the word Tampico, Tamaulipas city: «tam» means «place», and «pikó» means «dog», so Tampico means «place of dogs».
Another origin of the term Tamaulipas comes from the colonial era. During this period, a town called Los Santos existed in the area, from which this name could have arisen when the term "holipa" became Hispanized.
By joining both terms ("tam" and "holipa"), the result is the word "Tamaholipa", which derived in Tamaulipas. This Mexican state located in the north of the country is called with this name.
You may also be interested in the history of Tamaulipas or its traditions.
Name's origin
In addition to the meaning of Tamaulipas as "place where people pray a lot", other authors point out that the name means "place where there are high mountains", also in the Huastec language.
This language corresponds to the Mayan language spoken by the indigenous people who inhabited the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
This meaning of the word Tamaulipas is based on a passage quoted from Fray Vicente de Santa María, who in 1792 wrote: "The two Tamaulipas, in the language of those natives, means high mountains."
Surely the indigenous people were referring to the mountainous system formed by the Madre Oriental, La Chiquita and Tamaulipas mountains.
Historians point out that the current territory of the state of Tamaulipas was originally called "Lariab", which in the Huasteca language means "lord" or "lords."
Apparently with this word the natives named the conquerors and first Spanish settlers who arrived there. These then took it as the name of the place.
History of the name Tamaulipas
To delve into the history of the name Tamaulipas it is necessary to delve into the civilizations that populated this territory.
The archaeological records found in the Cueva del Diablo, located in the Sierra de Tamaulipas, indicate that the first human settlements in this region were about 12,000 years ago. C.
The region was originally populated by Olmec tribes, and later by Chichimec and Huastec groups.
But there are those who place the primitive settlement of Tamaulipas in the Pleistocene, by bands that were hunters and gatherers.
The first permanent Spanish settlement in the state of Tamaulipas occurred in Tampico in 1554.
Tamaulipas was incorporated as a province of New Spain in 1746, with the name of Nuevo Santander.
Throughout its history, the Tamaulipas territory has also received other names, among which we can mention: the Huasteca kingdom, the Paul or Alifau region, the Garayana land, the Seno Mexicano coast, the Amichel or Pánuco province, the region of Ocinan or dunes of the Magdalena.
The most accepted version
As the historian Octavio Herrera Pérez points out in his book Tamaulipas, "(…) the toponymic root of the state comes from its main primordial settlement: Tamaholipa."
For this reason, it is commonly accepted that the current name of the state comes from the founding of the town of Tamaholipa in 1544 by Fray Andrés de Olmos. There this Spanish missionary welcomed the Olive Indians.
References
- Octavio Herrera Pérez (1999): Tamaulipas. Retrieved on November 10, 2017 from books.google.co.ve
- Tamaulipas. State Goverment. Recovered from yumpu.com
- Tamaulipas. Retrieved November 10, 2017 from nationsencyclopedia.com
- Origin of the name Tamaulipas. Consulted of meaning.net
- Tamaulipas. Consulted of definitions.net
- Tamaulipas. Consulted of es.wikipedia.org