Harrisburg

[har-is-burg] /ˈhær ɪsˌbɜrg/

noun
1.
a city in and the capital of Pennsylvania, in the S part, on the Susquehanna River.
[pen-suh l-veyn-yuh, -vey-nee-uh] /ˌpɛn səlˈveɪn yə, -ˈveɪ ni ə/
noun
1.
a state in the E United States. 45,333 sq. mi. (117,410 sq. km).
Capital: Harrisburg.
Abbreviation: PA (for use with zip code), Pa., Penn., Penna.
/ˈhærɪsˌbɜːɡ/
noun
1.
a city in S Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River: the state capital. Pop: 48 322 (2003 est)
/ˌpɛnsɪlˈveɪnɪə/
noun
1.
a state of the northeastern US: almost wholly in the Appalachians, with the Allegheny Plateau to the west and a plain in the southeast; the second most important US state for manufacturing. Capital: Harrisburg. Pop: 12 365 455 (2003 est). Area: 116 462 sq km (44 956 sq miles) Abbreviation Pa, Penn, Penna, (with zip code) PA

American colony, later U.S. state, 1681, literally “Penn’s Woods,” a hybrid formed from the surname Penn (Welsh, literally “head”) + Latin sylvania (see sylvan). Not named for William Penn, the proprietor, but, on suggestion of Charles II, for Penn’s late father, Admiral William Penn (1621-1670), who had lent the king the money that was repaid to the son in the form of land for a Quaker settlement in America. The story goes that the younger Penn wanted to call it New Wales, but the king’s secretary, a Welshman of orthodox religion, wouldn’t hear of it. Pennsylvania Dutch is attested from 1824.

State in the northeastern United States bordered by Lake Erie and New York to the north; New Jersey to the east; Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia to the south; and Ohio to the west. Its capital is Harrisburg, and its largest city is Philadelphia.

Note: One of the thirteen colonies.

Note: Named after the father of William Penn, a devout Quaker, who was granted proprietary rights by the king of England to almost the whole of what is now Pennsylvania in the late seventeenth century.