Talk:Morro Bay, California

Name of the rock
About the origin of "Morro," I have heard the rock was thus named because it looked like a turban worn by the Moors. Do you have a source that says otherwise? Sincerely, BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 21:16, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Morro is standard Spanish for a small, rocky mountain (usually round in shape, but not always the case). It has zero to do with anything Moorish, that is pure fantasy and false etymology. Moor is Moro (one r) in Spanish, they aren't close. Sample cognates: Morro del Tulcán (Tulcan Hill), Morro de Arica (Arica Hill), or even El Morro National Monument. No reputable source supports the claim that "Morro" is a misspelling of "Moro" as in "Moor", but here are some sources supporting the proper definition (as a rocky mountain/hill, usually rounded):
 * City of Morro Bay - Morro Rock Beach
 * California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names
 * 1000 California Place Names
 * I hope that helps clear the matter up!
 * Best, Cristiano Tomás (talk) 22:23, 30 March 2022 (UTC)
 * According to the sources you provided, the word morro carries the meaning of rounded. There is controversy here as well, where Morro supposedly means "anything round like a head". Frankly, I believe we should leave it out at this point because it is not necessary to the article. BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 04:04, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Here, the word is identified as promontory. BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 04:08, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Here is another thorough article stating that Morro means "anything shaped like a head," stemming from an old French term, mourre, which, I believe, is reflected in the French faire une moue, which means "to protrude both lips in a rounded fashion." BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 04:15, 4 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Using dated English language newspapers to support a specific interpretation of the definition is not reliable. Morro is not an obscure word, it is recognizable to any Spanish or Portuguese speaker across the world as simply "hill". Some regions and people may interpret as a word specifically as a rounded hill, others as a tall promontory, but the simply unifying factor is that they all describe what in English we would call a hill. Attend to any reliable Spanish dictionary, from the RAE's Diccionario de la lengua española, which lists it as Monte pequeño o peñasco redondeado (small hill or rounded rock) to the Dictionary of Mexican Spanish, which lists it as Peñasco o monte pelado que sobresale entre los demás  (A rock or bare mountain that sticks out in its environment). The unifying definition is that it is a hill, regardless of how you quantify it. Similarly, trying to link its etymology is ridiculous; this town is named after the Spanish word, whatever French term you're referring to is irrelevant. Cristiano Tomás (talk) 04:23, 4 April 2022 (UTC)