"woman considered stylish at the turn of the 20th century," 1894, named for U.S. artist and illustrator Charles Dana Gibson (1867-1944), whose main model was his wife, Irene Langhorne (1873-1956). The Gibson cocktail (gin, vermouth, and a pearl onion) is attested by 1914, in some stories ascribed to him but the origin of the term is unknown.
"She looks like a Gibson girl" is not an uncommon saying; and to look like a Gibson girl, is not without its merits. Although our artist has expressed in his drawings disapproval of women usurping the spheres of men, his girls suggest intellectuality. He has none of the doll-like inanely pretty faces which artists used to give women in olden days. His girls look as if they would have opinions of their own and would act with discrimination in the affairs of life. They are tall and graceful and although not in the least like fashion plates, their clothes are becoming and fit perfectly. [National Magazine, May 1898]
organized as a U.S. territory 1836; admitted as a state 1848. Originally applied to the Wisconsin River; a native name of unknown origin. Early spellings include Mescousing and Wishkonsing. "Of all the states of the American union, none has a name that has been spelled in more ways or interpreted more variously, than Wisconsin," according to Virgil J. Vogel, "Indian Names on Wisconsin's Map" (University of Wisconsin Press, 1991). He lists 15 spellings and says the word has been attributed to French, Menominee, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, Sauk-Fox, and Winnebago.
It was Wisconsan on an 1823 map of Michigan Territory; the modern spelling dates to 1829, but Wiskonsin remained a stubborn variant until the territorial legislature fixed the spelling in 1845.
Modern scholarship seems to look to the writings of Marquette (1670s) and his use of Mascouten, etc., for a river and people name. Vogel describes the theory:
The Foxes' tribal name is Mesquackie, also spelled Meskwaki, Miscoquis, Miskwkeeyuk, Muskwaki, Musquakie, etc. The name means "red earth," deriving from the Fox tradition that they were created of red earth by the Great Spirit. The French called them Renards [Foxes] because they mistook a clan name for the tribal name. There is a remarkable resemblance between Marquette's Mescousing and the name Mesquakie. The terminal -akie in the tribal name means "earth," and the terminal -ing in Meskousing means "place." It is possible that the original term was Meskwa ("red, inanimate") aki ("earth") ing ("place"). Marquette could have shortened it.
