Re: Island

Dan Sulani wrote:
> or did "i" derive from some other source, and if so,
> what?
_i_ was native, from Old English íeg, not at all related to Latin
_insula_.  A remarkable coincidence, tho, the kind that keeps historical
linguistics interesting.  :-)

> (Modern German has "Insel" for island --- from the same
> Old French source?)
I don't know, but it looks like it *could* be from Latin _insula_, in
which case it would be related to _isle_, but not _island_.

>     That English also had "i" for island is probably a
> coincidence
Yep.  Single-letter words are never good evidence of relation.  :-)

> (BTW, what was the Proto-IE for "island"?)
As far as I know, it's unknown.  Each of the different branches has gone
a different direction.

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