Meaning of california

california: Name of a State of the United States. Name of a peninsula in North America, on the Pacific Ocean (also called Baja California). Name of a Gulf in Mexico, on the Pacific Ocean. Name of a municipality of Colombia in the Department of Santander. Name of localities in Brazil (State of Paraná), El Salvador and Scotland. There are also numerous localities with that name in the United States, England and Italy. Name of a desert in Peru. Name in Astronomy of a nebula in the constellation of Perseus. It is also known as NGC 1499. Name of an asteroid .; 1º_ Fictional island inhabited by Amazons mentioned in the novel Las Sergas de Espladián (Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, 1510). 2º_ California is the name of a state in the USA -inherited from the Mexican peninsula and Gulf of California- in addition to several cities and localities in this and other countries. The origin of the name is unclear, but it was surely brought to America by the Spanish. Perhaps from the Catalan calor de forn ("oven heat") that ended in California for the hot attics of the churches, and was associated with the heat of the peninsula; it can also be a literary reference for the previous meaning, or for the Califerne of North Africa mentioned in La Chanson de Roland, a poem of chivalry of the eleventh century.; CALIFORNIA: Asteroid number 341, in the series.