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A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. It was admitted as the 41st state in 1889. Most of the area passed to the United States through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and was explored by Lewis and Clark in 1805 and 1806. Split for many years among other western territories, the region was organized as the Montana Territory in 1864. Helena is the capital and Billings the largest city.
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.