island

1. Abbr. Isl. or Is. or I. A land mass, especially one smaller than a continent, entirely surrounded by water.

2. Something resembling an island, especially in being isolated or surrounded, as:

   1. An unattached kitchen counter providing easy access from all sides.

   2. A raised curbed area, often used to delineate rows of parking spaces or lanes of traffic.

   3. The superstructure of a ship, especially an aircraft carrier.

3. Anatomy A cluster of cells differing in structure or function from the cells constituting the surrounding tissue.

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.