Origin and history of the name of Argentina

The name of Argentina (a Spanish adjective meaning "silvery"), traditionally called the Argentine in English, is ultimately derived from the Latin "silver" and the feminine of the adjectival suffix . The first use of the name Argentina can be traced back to the first voyages made by the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors to the Río de la Plata (meaning "River of Silver"), in the first years of the 16th century.

Aleixo Garcia, one of the survivors of the shipwrecked expedition mounted by Juan Díaz de Solís in 1516, heard notices about a powerful White King in a country very rich in silver, at the mountains, called "Sierra de la Plata". Garcia then organized an expedition and reached Potosí's area, gaining several silver objects and gifts. He was killed by the Payaguás, returning to Santa Catarina (Brazil), but the Guaraní people who were part of the expedition took the silver objects back and spread the Sierra de Plata legend, and explained that it was possible to reach that fabulous land through the wide river located to the south.

While the exact origin of the name Rio de la Plata is unknown, Sebastian Cabot's exploration between 1526 and 1529 is widely credited to have inspired such name due to his obtaining and collecting a variety of silver objects from the Guaraní tribes along the Paraguay river. The river received other names, such as Mar Dulce, Río de Solís, Río de Santa María, Río Jordán, but Río de La Plata was the one that finally prevailed.

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