Orellana

See also: orellana

English

Etymology

Named for Francisco de Orellana (1511–46), Spanish explorer, who was the first to explore it in the 1540s.

Proper noun

Orellana

1. (now historical) The river Amazon.
   • 1605, Joseph de Acosta, translated by Edward Grimston, History of the Indies:

     But if we shall speake more of rivers, that great floud called by some the river of Amazons, by others Marañon, and by some the river of Orellana, which our Spaniards sailed in their discoveries, ought to blemish all the rest; and, in truth, I am in doubt whither I may tearme it a river or a sea.

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

     From all the roaring Andes, huge descends / The mighty Orellana.

Spanish

Etymology

Probably of Basque origin, or from the town of Orellana in Badajoz, Spain, possibly from Latin Aureliana, see also Orell. Cf. also Orellano, orellano.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /oɾeˈʝana/ [o.ɾeˈʝa.na]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain and Latin America) /oɾeˈʝana/ [o.ɾeˈʝa.na]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines) /oɾeˈʎana/ [o.ɾeˈʎa.na]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /oɾeˈʃana/ [o.ɾeˈʃa.na]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /oɾeˈʒana/ [o.ɾeˈʒa.na]

• Rhymes: -ana
• Syllabification: O‧re‧lla‧na

Proper noun

Orellana m or f by sense

1. a surname

Proper noun

Orellana ?

1. A province of Ecuador

Derived terms

• orellanense