The Gulag . . .
I'm just wanting to post something today so I'll recall an occurance from a work email a few months ago. The security guards sent an email about a car blocking an isle in the parking lot. This sent my mind wondering about the possible connections between isle, aisle and island.
island noun
1. A land mass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water.
[Alteration (influenced by isle) of Middle English ilond, from Old English īegland : īg, īeg; see akw-ā- in Indo-European roots + land, land; see lendh- in Indo-European roots.]
isle noun
Abbr.
An island, especially a small one.
[Middle English ile, from Old French isle, from Vulgar Latin *īsula, from Latin īnsula.]
aisle noun
1. A part of a church divided laterally from the nave by a row of pillars or columns.
2. A passageway between rows of seats, as in an auditorium or an airplane.
3. A passageway for inside traffic, as in a department store, warehouse, or supermarket.
[Alteration (influenced by isle and French aile, wing) of Middle English ele, from Old French, wing of a building, from Latin āla.]
The above definitions and etymologies come from the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary relates
the following for the etymology of aisle: [Origin: 1350–1400; alter. (with ai < F aile wing) of earlier isle (with s from isle), ile; r. ME ele < MF < L āla wing, c. axle. See ala].
Word History from the American Heritage Dictionary : 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.
Okay, so peninsula gets brought in but what about archipelago?
island noun
1. A land mass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water.
[Alteration (influenced by isle) of Middle English ilond, from Old English īegland : īg, īeg; see akw-ā- in Indo-European roots + land, land; see lendh- in Indo-European roots.]
isle noun
Abbr.
An island, especially a small one.
[Middle English ile, from Old French isle, from Vulgar Latin *īsula, from Latin īnsula.]
aisle noun
1. A part of a church divided laterally from the nave by a row of pillars or columns.
2. A passageway between rows of seats, as in an auditorium or an airplane.
3. A passageway for inside traffic, as in a department store, warehouse, or supermarket.
[Alteration (influenced by isle and French aile, wing) of Middle English ele, from Old French, wing of a building, from Latin āla.]
The above definitions and etymologies come from the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. The Random House Unabridged Dictionary relates
the following for the etymology of aisle: [Origin: 1350–1400; alter. (with ai < F aile wing) of earlier isle (with s from isle), ile; r. ME ele < MF < L āla wing, c. axle. See ala].
Word History from the American Heritage Dictionary : 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.
Okay, so peninsula gets brought in but what about archipelago?
posted by Hiro at 11:28 PM
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