Ohio River

==Etymology==
The name "Ohio" comes from the [[Seneca language]] (an [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian language]]), {{lang|see|Ohi:yo'}} (roughly pronounced oh-hee-yoh, with the vowel in "hee" [[vowel length|held longer]]), a proper name derived from {{lang|see|ohiːyoːh}} ("good&nbsp;river"), therefore literally translating to "Good&nbsp;River".<ref name="Bright">{{cite book |last=Bright |first= William |author-link=William Bright |year=2004 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxzCm1qa4C&pg=PA344 |title=Native American Placenames of the United States |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |page=344 |isbn=978-0-8061-3598-4 |access-date=April 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://americanindianstudies.osu.edu/ohio.cfm |title=Native Ohio |access-date=February 25, 2007 |website=American Indian Studies |publisher=[[Ohio State University]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070202230727/http://americanindianstudies.osu.edu/ohio.cfm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = February 2, 2007 |quote=Ohio comes from the Seneca (Iroquoian) 'ohiiyo' 'good river'}}</ref> "Great river" and "large creek" have also been given as translations.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/ohio_quick_facts.php |title=Quick Facts About the State of Ohio |publisher=Ohio History Central |access-date=July 2, 2010 |quote=From Iroquois word meaning 'great river' |archive-date=February 8, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208222032/http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/ohio_quick_facts.php |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="mithun312">{{cite book |first=Marianne |last=Mithun |year=1999 |chapter=Borrowing |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALnf3s2m7PkC&pg=PA311 |pages=311–3 |title=The Languages of Native North America |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-29875-9 |quote=Ohio ('large creek') |access-date=September 29, 2018 |archive-date=July 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714233112/https://books.google.com/books?id=ALnf3s2m7PkC&pg=PA311 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]], including the [[Lenape]] and [[Iroquois]], considered the Ohio and [[Allegheny River|Allegheny]] rivers as the same, as is suggested by a New York State road sign on [[Interstate 86 (Pennsylvania–New York)|Interstate 86]] that refers to the Allegheny River also as {{lang|see|Ohi:yo'}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Names on the Land|last=Stewart|first=George R.|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|year=1967|isbn=978-0-938530-02-2|location=Boston, Massachusetts|page=8}}<!--|access-date=May 10, 2009--></ref> Similarly, the [[Geographic Names Information System]] lists ''O-hee-yo'' and ''O-hi-o'' as variant names for the Allegheny.<ref>{{cite gnis | id = 1209386 | name = Allegheny River | access-date = May 13, 2010}}</ref>

An earlier [[Miami-Illinois language]] name was also applied to the Ohio River, {{lang|mia|Mosopeleacipi}} ("river of the [[Mosopelea]]" tribe). Shortened in the [[Shawnee language]] to {{lang|sjw|pelewa thiipi}}, {{lang|sjw|spelewathiipi}} or {{lang|sjw|peleewa thiipiiki}}, the name evolved through variant forms such as "Polesipi", "Peleson", "Pele Sipi" and "Pere Sipi", and eventually stabilized to the variant spellings "Pelisipi", "Pelisippi" and "Pellissippi". Originally applied just to the Ohio River, the "Pelisipi" name later was variously applied back and forth between the Ohio River and the [[Clinch River]] in [[Virginia]] and [[Tennessee]].<ref name="pstcc">{{cite web | url = http://www.pstcc.edu/blogs/marketing-comm/?p=6971 | title = The Winding River Home: Pellissippi State researches the meaning of 'Pellissippi' | work = Pellissippi State News | publisher = [[Pellissippi State Community College]] | date = June 7, 2017 | access-date = July 26, 2018 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180726041013/http://www.pstcc.edu/blogs/marketing-comm/?p=6971#.W1xpkxlm2M8 | archive-date = July 26, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title = Shawnees Webpage| work = Shawnee's Reservation| access-date = April 26, 2013| year = 1997| url = http://reocities.com/SouthBeach/Cove/8286/speach.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130630052603/http://reocities.com/SouthBeach/Cove/8286/speach.html| archive-date = June 30, 2013}}</ref> In his original draft of the [[Land Ordinance of 1784]], [[Thomas Jefferson]] proposed a new state called "Pelisipia", to the south of the Ohio River, which would have included parts of present-day Eastern [[Kentucky]], Virginia and [[West Virginia]].<ref name="pstcc" />