1949: ozarks Apr 16, 2020

It is from the anglicization of French that 'Arkansas' and 'Kansas' have the discrepancy in the pronunciation, but this is not the only area in the region for which this holds true. The Ozarks, a mountain range nestled mostly between Missouri, Arkansas, and a bit of Oklahoma in the United States gets its name from the French 'aux Arc' which either means 'land of the arches', or is possibly short for 'aux Arkansas' (of Arkansas). Notably, despite certain phonetic similarities, the river that feeds the Lake of the Ozarks in that area, Osage River, is not related etymologically, as it is named for the Osage tribe.

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