Meanings
- An island of Dukes County, Massachusetts, famous for once being home to one of the earliest known deaf communities.
Life on Martha’s Vineyard has been mostly ideal for 11-year-old Mary Elizabeth Lambert, the protagonist of Ann Clare LeZotte’s historical novel SHOW ME A SIGN (Scholastic, 288 pp., $18.99; ages 8 to 12).
2020 April 27, Meg Medina, “A Deaf Girl Finds Her Voice on Martha's Vineyard in the 19th Century”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Dec 2022
Origin
This was originally the name given to a smaller island to the south by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who sailed to the island in 1602. The island is thought to have been named after Gosnold's mother-in-law or his daughter, both named Martha.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Martha's Vineyard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Martha's%20Vineyard
“Martha's Vineyard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Martha's%20Vineyard. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Martha's Vineyard,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Martha's%20Vineyard.
Source: Martha's Vineyard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.