Galapagos Islands

The story

1. Paleo-Hispanic · derived from*calappacu“turtle”
2. Spanish · derived fromgalápago“turtle”
3. New Latin · derived frominsulae
4. Spanish · borrowed fromislas Galápagos
5. English todayGalapagos Islands

From Spanish islas Galápagos, first attested as New Latin insulae de los galopegos (“islands of the turtles”) in Abraham Ortelius's 1570 atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, from a variant spelling of Spanish galápago (“turtle”), from Paleo-Hispanic. Cf. Catalan calàpet (“toad”) and Portuguese cágado (“turtle”).

Words from the same roots