English
insula
Insula comes from Latin īnsula ‘island’, and goes back to Ancient Greek νῆσος.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEνῆσος1nêsos‘island’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsula2‘island’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007insula2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin insula, which cites Pokorny
- 2 Wiktionary, English insula
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2007, Sandra Blakeslee, A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects: “All mammals have insulas that read their body condition,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEνῆσοςWiktionary, Latin insula, which cites Pokornynêsos‘island’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnsulaWiktionary, English insula‘island’
- Englishearliest quotation 2007insulaWiktionary, English insula. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2007, Sandra Blakeslee, A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects: “All mammals have insulas that read their body condition,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- ‘to flow, to swim’
nurse, naval, navigation, navigate, nausea, nutrient, nurture, navigator, nutritious, navigable, nao, nourish, nau, astronautics, 24 more
Today it means
noun A block of buildings in a Roman town.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “insula”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin insula. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek νῆσος / insula