Ocala is found near the old site of Ocale or Ocali, a major Timucua village and chiefdom during the 16th century. The city of Ocala today borrowed the name from the village. The name is believed to mean "Big Hammock" in the Timucua language. Hernando de Soto passed through Ocale during his famous journey through what is today the southeastern United States in 1539. Ocale is not mentioned in any later accounts; it seems to have been abandoned in the wake of de Soto's attack.