Origin and history of Texas

Mexican province, briefly an independent nation and from 1845 a U.S. state, by 1806, from Spanish Texas, Tejas, earlier pronounced "ta-shas," originally an ethnic name, from Caddo (native eastern Texas tribe) taysha "friends, allies," written by the Spanish as a plural.

As the name of a structure on the deck of a steamship containing cabins for the officers, by 1844. Texan. is attested by 1832 as an adjective, 1837 as a noun. The alternative form Texian is attested from 1835 and was the prevailing form in U.S. newspapers before 1844. Texican (n.), of the residents, is by 1835, when they were citizens of Mexico.

The baseball Texas-leaguer "ball popped up over the head of infielders but falling too close in for outfielders to catch" is by 1905, said to be named for the minor league that operated in Texas from 1902 (one theory is that outfielders played unusually deep in Texas because hits bounced hard off the sun-baked ground).