Page 19 - LLR-Exploration II

world was joining together in that expedition against the Christians--regions about which she knew
nothing because she was acquainted only with neighboring lands--she conceived a desire to see the
world and its various generations...
Notes:
This, then, is where Ulloa or his chief got the name California. Where did Montalvo get it? ________________________
Writing before European eyes had penetrated the peninsula, Montalvo could not have known her long
________________________
southern leg to be a cali fornax, a hot furnace. William Little believes that Montalvo’s use of the name Villa
Califán, an Arabian place in Book Four of the Esplandian, shows that he had in mind the Arabic root khalifa, a ________________________
successor to Muhammad, which is why Calafía allied herself with the Muslim Turks. Calif is Spanish for a
Muslim chief, Califia the female equivalent. (Interestingly, the missions of California are filled with Arabic ________________________
fountains and windows, a legacy of the long Islamic occupation of Spain.) …
________________________
Montalvo may have read the anonymous 11th Century Song of Roland (Chanson de Roland) and its phrasing
e cil de califerne: “and those of Califerne,” with the word possibly meaning “caliph’s domain.” Mourning the ________________________
death of his nephew Roland on the battlefield at Roncevaux, King Charles laments:
________________________
My nephew, through whom I conquered so much, is dead.
________________________
The Saxons will rebel against me,
________________________
The Hungarians, the Bulgars, and so many infidel peoples,
________________________
The Romans, the Apulians, and all the men of Palermo,

The Men of Africa and those of Califerne. ________________________

Califerne might in turn reach back to the Greek for “beautiful bird” or the Arabic for “large province.” ________________________
“Paradise” derives from the Greek paradeisos, an enclosed park, and is thought to be of Iranian origin, akin
to the Avestan pairidaeza, “enclosure,” and similar to the Greek peri, around, and teichos, wall. Kar-i-farn:
the mythical Iranian mountain of Paradise, wherein dwelled, alas, many warlike griffins.

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