A Germanic compound meaning 'watery land' that acquired a fraudulent silent 's' from scribes who confused it with Latin 'insula.'
A piece of land surrounded by water. Also used figuratively for anything isolated or set apart from its surroundings.
The word 'island' comes from Old English 'īegland,' a compound of 'īeg' (island, watery land) and 'land' (land). The 'īeg' element derives from Proto-Germanic '*awjō,' meaning 'thing on the water,' ultimately from PIE '*h₂ekʷeh₂' (water). The silent 's' was inserted in the 15th–16th century by scribes who mistakenly associated the word with the unrelated Old French 'isle' (from Latin 'insula'), creating one of English's most famous