Farne Islands

proper noun

An archipelago off the coast of Northumberland, England, included in North Sunderland parish (OS grid ref NU23).

OriginOld English farena ← Old Irish fearann →
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. An archipelago off the coast of Northumberland, England, included in North Sunderland parish (OS grid ref NU23).

Origin

  1. Old Irishfearann“territory”
  2. Old Englishfarena
  3. EnglishFarne Islands

Uncertain, but see Lindisfarne. Recorded by Bede (c. 750) as Farne. Possibly from Old English farena, genitive plural of fara (“traveller”). Allen Mawer (1920) and Richard Coates (2000) proposed derivation from Old Irish fearann (“territory”).

More words from Old English, Old Irish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Farne Islands. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Farne%20Islands

MLA

“Farne Islands.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Farne%20Islands. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Farne Islands,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Farne%20Islands.

Source: Farne Islands on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.