So I was sitting around wondering…. What exactly is a Sansa? Where does the word come from?

Here’s what I found:

First of all, Sansa is the name of a African thumb piano – a pre-computer handheld that plunks out the tunes. My guess would be that might be where SanDisk’s product line got its name.

But here are some other possibilities that I thought were less likely (make up your own mind!):

• There is Hon'inbō Sansa (1559 - 1623) who was a Buddhist priest who from his hermit’s hut became known as an undisputed champion of the strategic game Go. Among his students were the Japanese warlords Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

• Sansa is also the word for glowing coals in Quechua (the Inca-derived language of the rural majority in Peru).

• Servicios Aereos Nacionales SA, a Costa Rica-based airline.

• Finally, Sansa is a French town in the eastern Pyrénées mountains. The inhabitants call themselves the “Sansanais” (which, I assume, is what you call the members of a Sansa community).

So my fellow Sansanais, anyone know other meanings for Sansa?

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