2006-09-04 10:34:09 · 5 answers · asked by Bridget P 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
The word "Nittany" seems to have been derived from a Native American term meaning "single mountain." (Since a number of Algonquian-speaking tribes inhabited central Pennsylvania, the term can’t be traced to one single group.) These inhabitants applied this description to the mountain that separates Penns Valley and Nittany Valley, overlooking what is today the community of State College and Penn State’s University Park campus. The first white settlers in the 1700s apparently adopted this term, or a corruption of it, when they named that mountain, i.e., Mount Nittany or Nittany Mountain. Thus by the time Penn State admitted its first students in 1859, the word "Nittany" was already in use.
2006-09-04 10:42:00 · answer #1 · answered by quatt47 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nittany Mountain
2016-10-05 03:11:43 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Nittany Lion is the mascot of the Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania and its athletic teams. It refers to the mountain lions that once roamed nearby the school.
The mascot was the creation of Penn State senior H. D. "Joe" Mason in 1907. While on a 1904 trip to Princeton University, Mason had been embarrassed that Penn State did not have a mascot. Mason, of course, did not let that deter him...he fabricated the Nittany Lion on the spot and proclaimed that it would easily defeat even the Princeton Bengal tiger. Upon returning to campus, though, he set about making his invention a reality. In 1907, he wrote in the student publication The Lemon:
"Every college the world over of any consequence has a college emblem of some kind—all but The Pennsylvania State College... Why not select for ours the king of beasts--the Lion!! Dignified, courageous, magnificent, the Lion allegorically represents all that our College Spirit should be, so why not 'the Nittany Mountain Lion?' Why cannot State have a kingly, all-conquering Lion as the eternal sentinel?"
Mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s, when they were eliminated. The origin of the name "Mount Nittany" is obscure, the most commonly accepted explanation being that it is derived of Native American words (loosely pronounced as "neet-a-nee") meaning either "single mountain" or a protective barrier against the elements.
The name was readily accepted without a vote of the student body. In 1907, the first tangible lion symbols appeared with the placing of two alabaster African lion statues, left over from the Pennsylvania exhibit at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, atop the columns at the main campus entrance on College and Allen streets. They were affectionately dubbed by the student body as "Pa" and "Ma." In the 1920s, a pair of stuffed mountain lions was placed in the Recreation Building to watch over athletic events. One of these original lions is now located in Pattee Library on the Penn State campus. About that same time, the tradition was established of having a student dressed in furry-lion outfits appear at football games. There is also a fight song played during football games entitled "The Nittany Lion".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nittany
2006-09-05 16:52:38 · answer #3 · answered by danielpsw 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What Is A Nittany
2016-12-15 09:11:07 · answer #4 · answered by tobias 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are named after Mount Nittany,because mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s, when they were eliminated.
2006-09-04 10:39:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This Site Might Help You.
RE:
What is a "Nittany", as is Nittany Lions?
2015-08-18 13:32:39 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
From a place - Nittany Valley.
2006-09-04 10:36:13 · answer #7 · answered by dollhaus 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are lions found in the Nittany Mountains of Pennsylvania.
2006-09-04 13:12:12 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋