The story
From Ancient Greek Μακάρων νῆσοι (Makárōn nêsoi, “Islands of the Blessed”) + -ia, from μάκαρ (mákar, “fortunate”) + νῆσος (nêsos, “island”). Unrelated to English macaroni.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Macaronesia
Today it means: A group of four archipelagos in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Azores (part of Portugal), Madeira (also part of Portugal), the Canary Islands (part of Spain) and the independent country of Cape Verde. Full definition →