"long, narrow inlet of the sea formed by a drowned river valley," from Spanish ria "estuary, river mouth" (adopted as a geological term first in German, 1886), from Latin ripa "stream bank" (see riparian).

inland port city in Spain, Spanish Sevilla, ultimately from Phoenician, said to be from sefela "plain, valley." Related: Sevillan; Sevillian. The Seville orange (1590s) is noted for its bitter taste and used in making marmalade.

U.S. state based on the former Nuevo México province of New Spain (later Mexico); the name traces to 1560s and is a reference to the valley of Mexico, around modern Mexico City (see Mexico). Annexed to the U.S. as a territory in 1848; admitted as a state in 1912.

capital of the Bahamas, a name attested from 1690s, given in honor of King William III of England (1650-1702), of the House of Orange-Nassau, from the duchy of Nassau in western Germany, named for a village in the Lahn valley, from Old High German nass "wet." Related: Nassauvian.

originally the name of the river, from the French rendering of an Algonquian name (French missionaries first penetrated the river valley in its upper reaches) meaning "big river;" compare Ojibwa mshi- "big," ziibi "river." Organized as a U.S. territory 1798; admitted as a state 1817. Related: Mississippian (by 1775; as a geological period, by 1891).