Dixie, a word used to designate the South in the United States. Among the theories as to its origin are: (1) It somehow bears a reference to Dixon of Mason and Dixon's Line. (2) It may be traced to a kindly Dutchman named Dixy. The slaves on his Manhattan Island plantation were so well treated that “Dixy's Land” came to symbolize a sort of earthly paradise such as the South seemed to be to homesick Southerners. (3) It was derived from the word dix(ten) on Louisiana bank notes. Louisiana, and eventually the whole South, took on the name of “Dix's Land.”