Meanings
- UShistoricalA proposed city-state comprising Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island, put forward on January 6th, 1861, by the mayor of New York City, Fernando Wood, shortly before the beginning of the American Civil War.First known use 1861
Like any debate, it goes on and on and nothing is said that hasn’t been said a thousand times before, so I pull out my thin screen and enjoy the ride into the Free City of Tri-Insula, or what used to be the old City of New York.
2013 May, Sam A. Patel, chapter 5, in Data Runner (Data Runner Series; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Diversion Books, →ISBN, part II (When Security is the Only Option)2 more examples
The commercial interests of New York were ever opposed to war. Meetings were held repeatedly in January, 1861, to petition Congress for peace. Meanwhile Mayor Fernando Wood proposed to the Common Council that Manhattan Island, Long Island and Staten Island should secede from the Union and constitute the free city of “Tri-Insula.”
1925, William Thompson Bonner, “New York’s Military History—Events and Personnel, ‘Civil War’, Wood’s Proposed Free City”, in New York: The World’s Metropolis, 1623–4—1923–4. A Presentation of the Greater City at the beginning of its Second Quarter Century of Amalgamated Government and the 300th Anniversary of Its Founding, […], New York, N.Y.: R[alph] L[ane] Polk & Co., →OCLC, section 1 (New York—The Metropolis), page 104, column 1“Are you trying to tell me that the mayor of New York wants to proclaim independence from the United States of America?” asked Pinkerton. “The council approved the plan in January,” Mannion said, delighted by the reaction he had so deliberately provoked. “They’re going to merge Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island into the ‘Free City of Tri-Insula.’ Best goddamn idea Fernandy Wood ever had.”
2011, Dominic Lagan, chapter 3, in The Coming Storm (A Red Mannion Novel), Morrisville, N.C.: Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 34
Origin
- Latintri-
- EnglishFree City of Tri-Insula
From free city (“city characterized by relative autonomy”) + of + a learned borrowing from Latin tri- (combining form of trēs (“three”)) + īnsula (“island”), coined by the 76th mayor of New York City, Fernando Wood (1812–1881), in 1861.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese 三島自由市 /三岛自由市
- 三島自由市 /三岛自由市 (Sāndǎo Zìyóushì)proposed city-state comprising Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island
Finnish no attested term in Finnish, but see Tri-Insulan vapaakaupunki
- no attested term in Finnishproposed city-state comprising Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island
- but see Tri-Insulan vapaakaupunkiproposed city-state comprising Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island
Cite this entry
Free City of Tri-Insula. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Free%20City%20of%20Tri-Insula
“Free City of Tri-Insula.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Free%20City%20of%20Tri-Insula. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Free City of Tri-Insula,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Free%20City%20of%20Tri-Insula.
Source: Free City of Tri-Insula on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.