Note IV'-38 — Chapter IV · OBSERVATIONS ON NEW SPAIN.[IV'-1]

Arizpe is now a small place, with a population of probably 4,000, and is of interest chiefly to the antiquarian. The original mission of Arizpe was already over 150 years old in Pike's time, and the place is believed to have been an Opata village as early as 1540. The derivation of the name is given as the Opata word arit, meaning "ant." The name Arizpe suggests the obvious conjecture, that the root of the word Arizona, the derivation of which has been so much mooted, may be here found. How this may be, I do not know; but Arizona does not appear to be Spanish, and certainly any such etymology as Lat. arida zona, which has been adduced among others, is fictitious.