usona
English
Alternative forms
* USONA, USONA
Proper noun
(
en proper noun)
(obsolete) A one-word name for the United States of America that does not have the ambiguity of "America"
* {{quote-journal
, title=German letter (Chemnitz, July 15, 1899)
, journal=American Wool and Cotton Reporter
, author=
, publisher=
, vol=13
, page=924 [24]
, year=1899
, month=August 3
, passage=
Usona (U. S. of A.), a land that looked like a lost land to us two years ago, was our biggest buyer, says a local expert.
}}
* {{quote-journal
, title=The New U.S. Pharmacopœia
, journal=The Pharmaceutical Journal
, author=
, publisher=London
, page=70
, year=1905
, month=July 15
, passage=Everything of value recording during recent years by British pharmacists has been incorporated in the monographs, and it is interesting to notice how freely the pages of our own only commentary on the British Pharmacopœia—'Pharmacopedia,' to wit—have been drawn upon for information. But this was only to be expected, since our brethren in
Usona are nothing if not careful and judicious compilers. Much original work has doubtless been done by American pharmacists engaged in the production of the new national medicine-book, but the volume is, nevertheless, best described as an excellent compilation.
}}
Derived terms
* Usonian
* Usonia
* Usono
*Usonan
Usage notes
Several authors at the turn of the 20th Century advocate this as a word that should be used, however it did not gain wide acceptance.
* “the natural impatience of a citizen of the United States at the idea of the word American referring to any one except himself and his fellow citizens choked off any chance of life the expression [Usona] might have had at that time.” ({{quote-journal
, year=1907
, title=The Gateway
, page=25)}}
There was, however, the Usona Zinc Mining Co. of Kansas City in 1899,['The "Usona" Zinc Mining Company is the name of a Kansas City corporation, ... The word "Usona" was the name suggested ... to more properly designate our national territory as the "United States of North America."' (The Age of Steel'', vol. 86, no. 17, p. 14, 1899 Oct 21)] and a yacht out of Boston by that name in 1900.[''Forest and Stream'', vol. 55, p. 52, July 21, 1900] The Goodwin Pottery Co. produced a line called "Usona" from c. 1905 to c. 1912,[Jeanie Wilby, 2003. ''Decorative American pottery & whiteware'', p. 88''ff''] and there were other brands, hotels, and companies of that name around the same time [Usona Mfg. Co (Aurora), Usona Films Co (Glendale), the Usona-Brazil Co (NY), etc.].[A number are listed in ''Polk's New York copartnership and corporation directory'' of 1915.] A small community founded in 1913 near Mariposa, California, is named Usona, from the same acronym.[ A US steamship named the ''Usona'' carried troops during World War I and sank in 1917.]["and then Smith transferred to the American steamship Usona, the name being formed from the initials of the United States of North America." ("Seattle engineer back from war front", in ''The American marine engineer'', 1917, vol. 12 , p. 15] A famous hotel in Fulton, Kentucky, was renamed the USONA in 1913, and kept that name at least into the 1930s.[Elizabeth Jones, 2005. ''Fulton . The name was capitalized as an acronym.]
A company called Usona Bio-Chem Labs was in business in 1963,[Industrial research'', vol. 5] and a Usona Co. in 1974,[Sandy Eccli, 1974. ''Alternative sources of energy: practical technology and philosophy for a decentralized society'', p. 94.] but more recent use of the name may be a back-formation of the architectural term Usonian.[''Travel & leisure , 2002, vol. 32, p. 200] Perhaps the greatest acceptance of the term, however, came from speakers of the international language Esperanto, where "Usono" is the word for the United States. (All Esperanto nouns must by rule end in "o", hence the change from "Usona" - an adjective form - to "Usono.")
References
----
