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isola

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word isola

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 13th century, Novellino
Inherited from
Latin *isula
Ultimate origin
Latin īnsula

Pronunciation

Forms

isola f (plural isole, diminutive isolétta or isolìna, diminutive-augmentative isolòtto m)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *isula, from Latin īnsula (“island”): the Vulgar Latin form had lost the /n/ before /s/, as mese did from mēnsis.[2][3][1][4] The form Medieval Latin isula already appears in documents from Lucca of 755 and 800.[2][4][5] DEI and Sabatini–Coletti call the word semi-learned, beside the popular outcome ischia, a reed bed or riverside thicket in northern Italy.[5][6][2] The same Latin word is French île, Occitan iscla, Catalan illa, Spanish isla and Portuguese ilha, and in the south it survives as Sicilian isca (“irrigated land”) in Sicily and Sardinian isa (“marsh at the foot of a hill”) in Logudoro.[7][8][9] The Latin word also meant “block of houses”, a sense Portuguese has kept.[2][8]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.[2][10] The ancients explained it as land “in the open sea”, in salō, and Nocentini still accepts this while waiting for a better proposal.[7][1] De Vaan finds it possible in its sounds but vague in meaning, since early Indo-Europeans seem to have meant river islands, and thinks the word may be a loan from an unknown language, which might also be the source of Ancient Greek νῆσος (nêsos, “island”) and of Old Irish inis and Welsh ynys.[10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century: “there was a young king, on an island of the sea, of very great strength and power” (Fue uno giovane Re, in una isola di mare, di grandissima forza e di gran podere).[2][11] GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 13th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

By the 14th century the word also stood for the people of an island, in the Bible translations and in Boccaccio, who tells how King Peter of Aragon made the island of Sicily rebel.[2][11] The Latin sense “block of buildings” returned in 1618 in Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger;[2] Vincenzo Scamozzi had noted that the ancients called both groups of houses and single detached houses isole.[2] The usual word for a city block became isolato (before 1600).[2]

Modern senses came with traffic and planning: the raised traffic island in 1942, the isola pedonale “pedestrian zone” in 1961, and isola rotazionale “roundabout island” in 1973, replacing isola rotatoria.[2] A territory set apart from its surroundings, such as a linguistic island, is first recorded in Corrado Alvaro in 1957.[2] Le Isole are, in Italy, Sicily and Sardinia.[12][13] Anatomy has the isole di Langerhans of the pancreas.[14][15]

The verb isolare (before 1597) and its derivatives took several senses from French, while isolazionismo (1939) comes from American English isolationism.[2][7] Isola is also the name of many places in Italy and a surname.[4][1]

Timeline

  • 755 – Medieval Latin Isula appears in a document from Lucca.[2][4]
  • Late 13th century – The Novellino uses isola.[2]
  • 14th century – The word is used for the inhabitants of an island.[2]
  • Before 1597 – Isolare is recorded in Giovanni Vettorio Soderini.[2]
  • 1618 – Buonarroti the Younger uses isola for a block of buildings.[2]
  • 1939 – Isolazionismo and isolazionista are recorded.[2][7]
  • 1942 – The sense “traffic island” is recorded.[2]
  • 1957 – Corrado Alvaro uses isola for a territory set apart.[2]
  • 1961 – Isola pedonale is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An island: a piece of land surrounded on every side by the water of a sea, lake or river: D'estate prendiamo il traghetto per un'isola vicina alla costa.[3][12][6]
  2. The inhabitants of an island: Tutta l'isola festeggiò il ritorno del campione.[3][12][6]
  3. An area that stands out from its surroundings by its language, people or other features: isola linguistica, isola dialettale.[3][12][6]
  4. (figurative) A secluded, peaceful place or situation; an oasis: Il giardino della nonna era per noi un'isola di silenzio.[3][12][6]
  5. (uncommon) A building or group of buildings surrounded by streets; a block: in this sense isolato is more usual.[3][12][6]
  6. (roads) A raised area in a roadway closed to vehicles, or a zone closed to traffic: isola spartitraffico, isola pedonale.[14][13][15]
  7. (anatomy, biology) A clearly bounded part of an organ, or a small cluster of cells unlike the tissue around it.[3][6][13]
  8. (nautical) Each of the separate superstructures of a merchant ship; on a warship or aircraft carrier, the side superstructure with the bridge.[3][6]

Word family

  • isolamento
  • isolano
  • isolante
  • isolare
  • isolatore
  • isolazionismo
  • isolazionista
  • insulare
  • isolato
  • isolotto

Usage notes

Isola is said with a voiced /z/ in standard pronunciation; a voiceless /s/ is also heard.[16][4] Isola felice is a place or situation with very good features in the middle of a bad one.[14][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d e Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
  5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2116
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
  10. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  11. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  16. ^ Canepari, Luciano, DiPI: Dizionario di pronuncia italiana, online ed., dipionline.it

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Isola.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/isola. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·