Mexican state, also in reference to Native languages there, from Spanish sonora "sonorous" (from Latin sonoros; see sonorous), supposedly so called in reference to marble deposits in the rocks there which rang when struck. Related: Sonoran.
Entries linking to sonora
sonorous adj.
"giving sound when struck, resonant, full-volumed," 1610s, from Latin sonorus "resounding," from sonor "sound, noise," from sonare "to sound, make a noise" (from PIE root *swen- "to sound"). Related: Sonorously; sonorousness. Earlier was sonouse (c. 1500), from Medieval Latin sonosus; also sonourse "having a pleasing voice" (c. 1400), from sonor.