# What does Yosemite mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788 "2002-04-15T18:22:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/1 "2002-04-15T18:22:18Z")
I am having a hard time finding the meaning to the word Yosemite. I have found some suspicious sites that claim it means “Grizzly Bear” but I don’t know if it is true or not. Does anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/2 "2002-04-15T18:53:55Z")
That’s what I was told by a ranger when I was there…something like “place where the grizzly bear lives”, but the etymology was uncertain. ---
**Author:** ![nth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/3 "2002-04-15T20:06:15Z")
thanks. it is just weird that all the history articles don’t answer this question, but they tell us what ahwanhee indians call themselves. :PPP ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/4 "2002-04-15T20:30:25Z")
It means “having an enormous orange mustache”. Duh! ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/5 "2002-04-15T20:39:02Z")
From what I’ve read, it doesn’t seem quite clear what the origin of the name “Yosemite” is. I’ve also heard the “grizzly bear” theory, but I’ve also heard another theory from [National Geographic](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/destinations/Yosemite_National_Park/Glacier_Point_Mariposa_Grove.html): > [@](#): > > Foothill Miwok called Miwok living in the valley “Yohemite,” which means “some of them are killers.” Thinking that this was the Indians’ name, the whites gave an approximation of it to the valley. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/6 "2002-04-15T23:08:43Z")
I’m not exactly sure how to give the cite for this, but I remember seeing a long description of the name written [gulp] on the walls of a restroom in Lower Pines campground. The writer claimed it came from the name of a tribe of Native Americans called the **Uzemite** [sp]. Simon and Garfunkel’s axiom: If it’s written in a toilet, it must be true. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/7 "2002-04-16T08:15:43Z")
I can confirm - having recently visited the park - that **Cabbage** ’s National Geographic cite is the story that is given by the Park itself. FWIW Gp ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/8 "2002-04-16T14:05:08Z")
I thought it meant, “Hey, Jew!” ---
**Author:** ![nth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/9 "2002-04-16T22:42:22Z")
oh? so Yosemite means “some of them are killers”? interesting. I’ve read it on a random website, too. Grizzly Bear or some of them are killers? ---
**Author:** ![mipsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mipsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipsman)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/10 "2002-04-17T03:00:26Z")
When the Mariposa Battalion first entered the canyon in March 1851, it was named by L.H. Bunnel who wrote “I then proposed that we give the valley the name of Yo-sem-i-ty … that by doing so, the name of the tribe of Indians which we met leaving their homes in this valley, perhaps never to return, would be perpetuated”. The final “y” was replaced with an “e” in 1852. Bunnel stated that the word meant a full grown grizzly bear. The Valley Miwoks’ word for grizzly bear was u-zu’-mai-ti. In 1810, there was a tribe mentioned north of the Stanislaus River called “Jusmites”. There was also a village near modern Stockton mentioned on a mission list called “Josmites”. For the other explanation “yos” or “yosh” means to kill, “a” is an agentive suffix like the English “-er”, and “miti” is a collective plural. Thus “killers” or “a band of killers”. Similarly (or contrastingly), “yo’he” is “to kill” and “miuti’ya” is “people”. The Indians met by the Mariposa Battalion in the valley called their village and the valley “Awani”. Thus Bunnel’s “Yosemity” name most likely was what other Indians called the people in the valley, either “killers” or “grizzlies”. Since the “Jusmites” and “Josemites” Valley Miwoks are mentioned as early as 1810, it is possible that they moved into the Yosemeite Valley sometime between 1825 and 1851. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-yosemite-mean/103788/11 "2002-04-17T07:16:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spritle \* > \*\*I thought it meant, “Hey, Jew!” \*\* It could also mean “Hey, Arab!” 😃