| Show LAND OF BIG NOSED MEN arizona so yarned bemuse ot a facial peculiarity who would for a moment suppose says the st louis republic that the word arizona which we associate with balmy breezes music ht nights and amazons could mean nothing more or less than a great aig nose the southwestern portion of what is now the united states was originally inhabited by a tribe of natives noted far and wide for their prominent beaklike beak like noses and although nature had been extremely lavish in her gifts when she conferred nasal appendages upon these queer aborigines they sought to enlarge those orga ns by piercing the vertical septum or gristle between the nostrils and wearing enormous ornaments therein one division of this big nosed tribe would wear a ring hammered from native gold or silver another an ornamented shell while a third were content with a sharp stick driven through the cartilage in such a manner as to permit of the ends projecting several inches to the side of each nostril to the early spanish invaders these queer but harmless creatures were known as the big noses in the spanish language nose is nariz my authority says in that language ou can also express a diminutive or an by a termination to the name word thus nari zito would mean a little nose and barizon a r ta big nose the feminine of barizon would be nar izona the n laving been eliminated by usage and 1 ime we have the name as it stands 0 o aay arizona in much the same ii the state of oregon receives ts name from a tribe of indians for their enormous ears they pierced alie auricle and enlarged the much in the same manner that ai icons enlarged their noses in the spanish ear is oreja now attach on the augmentative to the word ori jit leaving off the final a from the meaning ear and we have or jon time which like care will a cat has changed the j to g and given us the word oregon |
