Online Etymology Dictionary

American: 17c., from America (q.v.); originally in ref. to what are now called Native Americans; the sense of "resident of America of European descent" is first recorded 1765.
Americanization: 1816 (Americanize); from America + -ize.
American dream: coined 1931 by J.T. Adams (1878-1949), U.S. writer and historian, in "Epic of America."
[The American Dream is] "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." [Adams]
Others have used the term as they will.
Americanism: 1781, in ref. to words or phrases distinct from British use, coined by John Witherspoon (1723–1794), president of Princeton College, from adj. form of America (q.v.) + -ism. (American English "English language as spoken in the United States" is first recorded 1806, in Webster.) Americanism in the patriotic sense "attachment to the U.S." is attested from 1797, first found in the writings of Thomas Jefferson.
America: 1507, in Cartographer Martin Waldseemüller's treatise "Cosmographiae Introductio," from Mod.L. Americanus, after Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) who made two trips to the New World as a navigator and claimed to have discovered it. His published works put forward the idea that it was a new continent, and he was first to call it Novus Mundus "New World." Amerigo is more easily Latinized than Vespucci. The name Amerigo is Gmc., said to derive from Goth. Amalrich, lit. "work-ruler." The O.E. form of the name has come down as surnames Emmerich, Emery, etc. The It. fem. form merged into Amelia. Amerika "U.S. society viewed as racist, fascist, oppressive, etc." first attested 1969; the spelling is Ger., but may also suggest the KKK.
Appalachia: "cultural and geographical region of inland Eastern U.S.," 1880s, from the Appalachian Mountains, which are its core. Earlier Appalachia was proposed as a better name for "United States of America" by Washington Irving in 1839 (though he preferred Alleghenia) and this may have been the coinage of the word.
“It is a thousand pities that the puny witticisms of a few professional objectors should have the power to prevent, even for a year, the adoption of a name for our country. At present we have, clearly, none. There should be no hesitation about ‘Appalachia.’ In the first place, it is distinctive. ‘America’ is not, and can never be made so. We may legislate as much as we please, and assume for our country whatever name we think right — but to use it will be no name, to any purpose for which a name is needed, unless we can take it away from the regions which employ it at present. South America is ‘America,' and will insist upon remaining so." [Edgar Allan Poe, 1846]
Guinea pig: 1664, native to South America and is so called either because it was first brought back to Britain aboard Guinea-men, ships that plied the triangle trade between England, Guinea, and South America; or from confusion of Guinea (q.v.) with the South American region of Guyana. In the extended sense of "one subjected to an experiment" it is first recorded 1920, because they were commonly used in vivisection experiments.
Laurentian: "granite strata in eastern Canada," 1863, named for the Laurentian Mountains, where it is found, which are named for the nearby St. Lawrence River. Hence, Laurasia, Paleozoic supercontinent comprising N.America and Eurasia, 1931, from Ger. (1928), from Laurentia, geologists' name for the ancient core of N.America + (Eur)asia.
cosa nostra: 1963, "the Mafia in America," from It., lit. "this thing of ours."
sunflower: 1562, "heliotrope;" in ref. to the helianthus (introduced to Europe 1510 from America by the Spaniards) it is attested from 1597.
confederacy: late 14c., from Anglo-Fr. confederacie, from stem of L. confoederatio, from confoederare (see confederate). Earliest in ref. to leages of classical Gk. states (Aetolian, Achaean, etc.), later of the Netherlands. The word was used of the United States of America under (and in) the Articles of Confederation (1777-1788). In ref. to the breakaway Confederate States of America (1861-1865) from 1861.
"Confederacy now usually implies a looser or more temporary association than confederation, which is applied to a union of states organized on an intentionally permanent basis." [OED]
alewife: herring-like fish of N.America, 1630s, named for M.E. word for female tavern keepers; so called in reference to its large abdomen.
white bread: c.1300, as opposed to darker whole-grain type; its popularity among middle-class America led to the slang sense of "conventional, bourgeois" (c.1980).
peccary: "pig-like animal of S.America," 1610s, from Carib (Guiana or Venezuela) pakira, paquira.
Oregon: 1765 as the name of a large river in the west of North America, probably the modern Columbia; of uncertain and disputed origin. It seems to be of Algonquian origin.
balsa: 1866, apparently from Sp. balsa "float," originally the name of rafts used on the Pacific coast of Latin America (1777).
state (n.2): "political organization of a country, supreme civil power, government," 1530s, from state (n.1); this sense grew out of the meaning "condition of a country" with regard to government, prosperity, etc. (late 13c.), from L. phrases such as status rei publicæ "condition of the republic." Often in phrase church and state, which is attested from 1580s. The sense of "semi-independent political entity under a federal authority" (as in the United States of America) is from 1856; the British North American colonies occasionally were called states as far back as 1630s. The states has been short for "the United States of America" since 1777; hence stateside (1944), World War II U.S. military slang. State rights in U.S. political sense is attested from 1798; form states rights is first recorded 1858. Statesman is from 1590s.
Maine: U.S. state, probably ultimately from Fr. Maine, region in France (named for the river that runs through it, which is of Gaulish origin); the name applied to that part of coastal N.America by French explorers.
millionaire: 1826, from Fr. millionnaire (1762); see million. The first in America is said to have been John Jacob Astor (1763-1848).
AOL: dominant online service of the late 1990s, acronym of America Online, company name from late 1989.
Latin America: see Latin.
Magellanic clouds: 1680s, from Mod.L. Magellanicus, from Latinized name of Port. navigator Fernão de Magalhães (c.1470-1521), the first European to round the tip of S. America.
tautog: edible marine fish of the Atlantic coast of N.America, 1643, from Narragansett tautauog, pl. of taut.
Columbus: his name is Latinized from his native It. Cristoforo Colombo, in Sp. Christobal Colon.
"America was discovered accidentally by a great seaman who was looking for something else, and most of the exploration for the next fifty years was done in the hope of getting through or around it." [S.E. Morison, "The Oxford History of the United States," 1965]
Jennifer: from Welsh Gwenhwyvar (fem.), from gwen "fair, white" + (g)wyf "smooth, yielding." Most popular name for girls born in America 1970-1984; all but unknown there before 1938.
teonanacatl: native name for a hallucinogenic fungi (Psilocybe mexicana) found in Central America, 1875, from Nahuatl, from teotl "god" + nancatl "mushroom."
Mesoamerica: 1948, from meso- + America.
toucan: bright-colored bird of S.America, 1568, from Fr. toucan (1558) and Sp. tucan, from Tupi (Brazil) tuka, tukana, probably imitative of its call.
Gideon: Bible propagation society, 1906, formally Christian Commercial Young Men's Association of America, founded 1899. It takes its name from Gideon, Israelite judge and warrior [Judg. vi:11-viii:25], from Heb. Gidh'on, lit. "feller," from stem of gadha "he cut off, hewed, felled."
Ladino: 1889, Spanish mixed with Hebrew, Arabic, and other elements, written in Heb. characters, spoken by Sephardim in Turkey, Greece, etc. From Sp. Ladino "sagacious, cunning crafty," originally "knowing Latin, Latin," from L. Latinus. The Sp. word also has appeared in 19c. Amer.Eng. in its senses "vicious horse" and, in Central America, "mestizo, white person."
coot: c.1300, cote, used for various water fowl (now limited to Fulica atra and, in North America, F. americana), of uncertain origin (cf. Du. meercoet "lake coot"). Meaning "silly person, fool" is attested from 1766.
Hessian: from former Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel, western Germany; its soldiers being hired out by the ruler to fight for other countries, especially the British during the American Revolution, the name (unjustly) became synonymous with "mercenary." Hessian fly (Cecidomyia destructor) was a destructive parasite the ravaged U.S. crops late 18c., so named in erroneous belief that it was carried into America by the Hessians.
Cholo: "Indian or mixed-race person of Latin America," 1851, from Amer.Sp. (1609), said to be from Nahuatl (Aztec) xolotl "dog, mutt." Proposed derivation from Mexican city of Cholula seems too late, if this is the same word. In U.S., used of lower-class Mexican immigrants, but by 1970s the word began to be embraced in Latino gang slang in a positive sense.
colonial (adj.): c.1750s, from L. colonia (see colony) + -al (1). Meaning "from or characteristic of America during colonial times" is from 1776. The noun meaning "inhabitant of a colony" is recorded from 1865.
bowery: "farm, plantation," from Du. bowerij "homestead farm" (from the same source as bower); a Du. word probably little used in America outside New York, and there soon limited to one road, The Bowery, that ran from the built-up part of the city out to the plantations in middle Manhattan, attested from 1787; the city's growth soon overran it, and it was noted by 1840 as a commercial district notorious for squalor, rowdiness, and low life.
ocelot: "large wildcat of Central and South America," 1775, from Fr. ocelot, formed in Fr. by naturalist de Buffon (1707-1788), from Nahuatl ocelotl "jaguar" (in full tlalocelotl, a compound formed with tlalli "field").
Virginia: British colony in N.America, name appears on a map in 1587, named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. The fem. proper name is from L. Virginia, fem. of Virginius, earlier Verginius, probably related to Vergilius (cf. virgilian).
Thalidomide: 1958, from "phthalimidoglutarimide," based on abbreviated form of naphthalene; a morning-sickness drug responsible for severe birth defects in Europe from 1956 to 1961, when it was withdrawn. It was never approved for use in America thanks to the efforts of Dr. Helen Brooke Taussig. Thalidomide baby is attested from 1962.
fisk (v.): 2002, an Internet argument tactic involving a reprinting of an article or blog post, interlarded with rebuttals and refutations, often intended to show the original is a sandpile of flawed facts, unfounded assertions, and logical fallacies. Named for English journalist Robert Fisk (b.1946), Middle East correspondent for the "Independent," whose writing often criticizes America and Israel and is somewhat noted for looseness with details. Related: Fisked; fisking.
caudillo: dictator in Spain or Latin America, 1852, from Sp. caudillo "leader, chief," from L.L. capitellum, dim. of caput "head" (see head).
sambo (1): "person of mixed blood in America and Asia," 1748, perhaps from Sp. zambo "bandy-legged," probably from L. scambus "bow-legged," from Gk. skambos. Used variously in different regions to indicate some mixture of African, European, and Indian blood; common senses were "child of black and Indian parentage" and "offspring of a black and a mulatto."
manta: very large ray, also called devilfish, 1760, from Sp. manta "blanket" (1748 in this sense, specifically in ref. to a type of wrap or cloak worn by Spaniards), from L. mantellum "cloak" (see mantle). The ray so called "for being broad and long like a quilt" [Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, "A Voyage to South America"].
Novus Ordo Seclorum: on the Great Seal of the United States of America, is apparently an allusion to line 5 of Virgil's "Eclogue IV," in an 18c. edition: Magnus ab integro seclorum nasitur ordo "The great series of ages begins anew." The seal's designer, Charles Thomson, wrote that the words "signify the beginnings of the New American Era." (see Annuit Coeptis).
pampas: "large plains of S.America, 1704, from Sp. pampas, pl. of pampa, from Quechua (Peru) pampa "a plain."
self-interest: 1649, from self + interest (q.v.).
"[Self-interest] is a doctrine not very lofty, but clear and sure. It does not seek to attain great objects; but it attains those it aims for without too much effort. ... [It] does not produce great devotion; but it suggests little sacrifices each day; by itself it cannot make a man virtuous; but it forms a multitude of citizens who are regulated, temperate, moderate, farsighted, masters of themselves; and if it does not lead directly to virtue through the will, it brings them near to it insensibly through habits." [Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy in America"]
rayon: 1924, chosen by National Retail Dry Goods Association of America, probably from Fr. rayon "beam of light, ray," from rai (see ray (1)), which was also used in M.E. as a name for a type of cloth. So called because it is shiny. A more marketable alternative than the original patented name, artificial silk (1884), or the intervening attempt, Glos, which was "killed by ridicule" ("Draper's Record," June 14, 1924)
parrot: c.1525, perhaps from dial. M.Fr. perrot, from var. of Pierre "Peter;" or perhaps a dial. form of perroquet (see parakeet). Replaced earlier popinjay. The verb "repeat without understanding" is first attested 1596. The Ger. naturalist Alexander von Humboldt in S.America 1800 encountered a very old parrot that was the sole speaker of a dead Indian language, the original tribe having gone extinct.
turban: 1561, from M.Fr. turbant, from It. turbante (O.It. tolipante), from Turk. tülbent "gauze, muslin, tulle," from Pers. dulband "turban." The change of -l- to -r- may have taken place in Portuguese India and thence been picked up in other European languages. A men's headdress in Muslim lands, it was popular in Europe and America c.1776-1800 as a ladies' fashion.
D.C.: abbreviation of District of Columbia, apparently not widely used before 1820, but eventually it became necessary to distinguish it from the many other Washingtons in America. The city and the district (then known as Territory of Columbia) were named 1791; the territory was organized as a "district" in 1801, but the towns within it (Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria) remained separate municipalities and at one time all took D.C. The district was effectively organized as a unitary municipality in 1871.
un-American: 1818, from un- (1) "not" + American (see America).
"Everything is un-American that tends either to government by a plutocracy or government by a mob." [Theodore Roosevelt, 1917]