Etymology

Hispaniola

H4I1S1P3A1N1I1O1L1A1

Today it means: An island of the Caribbean, divided politically into the independent nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Full definition →

Latin Hispaniola ← Spanish Española
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromInsula
  2. Spanish · derived fromEspañola
  3. Latin · borrowed fromHispaniola
  4. English todayHispaniola

A borrowing of Peter Martyr's Latin Hispaniola (equivalent to Hispania + -ola), used in his Decades to translate De las Casas's Spanish Española (in a more latinized form), a clipping of la Isla Española (“the Spanish Island”), translating Columbus's Latin Insula Hispania, bestowed upon its discovery in 1492. Doublet of Española.

Words from the same roots

SpanishEspañola all →

Española

LatinInsula all →

isleinsulinLilleinsulainsulitisinsulous

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.