(īˈlənd)
noun- Abbr. Isl. or Is. or I. A land mass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water.
- Something resembling an island, especially in being isolated or surrounded, as:
a. An unattached kitchen counter providing easy access from all sides.
b. A raised curbed area, often used to delineate rows of parking spaces or lanes of traffic.
c. The superstructure of a ship, especially an aircraft carrier.
- Anatomy A cluster of cells differing in structure or function from the cells constituting the surrounding tissue.
transitive verb is·land·ed,
is·land·ing,
is·lands To make into or as if into an island; insulate: a secluded mansion, islanded by shrubbery and fences.
Word History: It may seem hard to believe, but Latin
aqua, “water,” is related to
island, which originally meant “watery land.”
Aqua comes almost unchanged from Indo-European
*akwā-, “water.”
*Akwā- became
*ahwō- in Germanic by Grimm's Law and other sound changes. To this was built the adjective
*ahwjō-, “watery.” This then evolved to
*awwjō- or
*auwi-, which in pre-English became
*ēaj-, and finally
ēg or
īeg in Old English.
Island, spelled
iland, first appears in Old English in King Alfred's translation of Boethius about
A.D. 888; the spellings
igland and
ealond appear in contemporary documents. The
s in
island is due to a mistaken etymology, confusing the etymologically correct English
iland with French
isle. Isle comes ultimately from Latin
īnsula “island,” a component of
paenīnsula, “almost-island,” whence our
peninsula.
