High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Cincinnati was founded in 1788 by John Cleves Symmes and Colonel Robert Patterson. Surveyor John Filson (also the author of The Adventures of Colonel Daniel Boon (siq) Daniel Boone) named it "Losantiville" from four terms, each of different language; meaning "The city opposite the mouth of the (Licking) River," "ville" is French for "city," "anti" is Greek for "opposite," "os" is Latin for "mouth," and "L" was all that was included of "Licking River."