Arizona

"Arizona! A magic word. Arizona! What visions of grandeur those seven letters conjure. Arizona! A symphony in mad, extravagant colors, shaded with the soft light of the desert in the evening, the purple mountains at twilight, the mauve sky of a rising sun." —Raymond Carlson, Arizona's Scenic Seasons, 1984

The origin of the word Arizona is uncertain. It recalls the Aztec arizuma, "silver bearing," and the O'odham Indian word aleh-zone, "little spring."