insularis

Forms

īnsulāris (neuter īnsulāre); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin īnsula (“island”) + -āris.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest instance is in Justin's epitome, which Köbler dates with a query to the 3rd century AD,^[3] where the plural noun insulares is used of the keepers and inhabitants of a temple according to Lewis & Short and Gaffiot,^[4][5] and of the occupants of a block of rented flats according to Georges.^[6]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective, “of an island”, it is late: Lewis & Short label it post-classical,^[4] and the TLL notes that Ammianus Marcellinus was fond of it.^[2] Ammianus speaks of an island solitude and of the circuit of an island, as of the river that encloses the fort of the Parisii,^[2][7] and with poena or supplicium of the punishment of banishment to an island: insulari poena multavit “he punished him with exile to an island”.^[4][6][5]

Medieval writers in Britain used it for islands and their peoples, and as a noun for islanders, as the Scottish records do of the men of the Isles.^[8] English took insular from it in the 17th century.^[9]

Timeline

• 3rd century AD – Justin uses the plural insulares for the keepers or inhabitants of a building (Köbler dates him with a query).^[3][4][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it as an adjective, “of an island”, and for banishment to an island.^[3][4][2]
• 1173 – Peter of Blois writes of all the island peoples (the DMLBS queries the date).^[8]
• 1310 – The Scottish rolls use insulares as a noun for islanders.^[8]
• 1610s – English borrows it as insular.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or belonging to an island, insular.^{[4][6][5][7][8]}
2. insularis poena: punishment by banishment to an island.^[4][6][5]

Noun

1. (plural) The keepers and inhabitants of a temple,^[4][5][7] or the occupants of a block of flats.^[6]
2. (Medieval Latin) An islander.^[8]

Related words

• English insular

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com