island: [OE] Despite their similarity, island has no etymological connection with isle (their resemblance is due to a 16th-century change in the spelling of island under the influence of its semantic neighbour isle). Island comes ultimately from a prehistoric Germanic *aujō, which denoted ‘land associated with water’, and was distantly related to Latin aqua ‘water’.
This passed into Old English as īeg ‘island’, which was subsequently compounded with land to form īegland ‘island’. By the late Middle English period this had developed to iland, the form which was turned into island. (A diminutive form of Old English īeg, incidentally, has given us eyot ‘small island in a river’ [OE].) Isle [13] itself comes via Old French ile from Latin insula (the s is a 15th-century reintroduction from Latin).
Other contributions made by insula to English include insular [17], insulate [16], insulin, isolate (via Italian) [18], and peninsula [16]. => eyot
island (n.)
1590s, earlier yland (c. 1300), from Old English igland "island," from ieg "island" (from Proto-Germanic *aujo "thing on the water," from PIE *akwa- "water;" see aqua-) + land (n.). Spelling modified 15c. by association with similar but unrelated isle. An Old English cognate was ealand "river-land, watered place, meadow by a river." In place names, Old English ieg is often used of "slightly raised dry ground offering settlement sites in areas surrounded by marsh or subject to flooding" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]. Related: Islander.
双语例句
1. They were going to sail around the little island, against the tide.
他们打算绕着小岛逆潮航行。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He made it his object in life to find the island.
他把找到那座岛屿当成自己的人生目标。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Further to the south are some of the island'sloveliest unspoilt coves.
再往南走有一些这个岛上尚未被破坏的迷人小海湾。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The island is only 200m wide at its narrowest point.
该岛最狭窄处仅200米宽.
来自柯林斯例句
5. The Regent hotel has a superlative view of Hong Kong island.
