insula

plural insulas · plural insulae

1. poeticIsland.

   "You must know, friend Sancho Panza, that it was a very common custom of knights errant of old to make their squires governors of the ínsulas or kingdoms they won, and I have resolved so amiable a usage shall not go unfulfilled on my account..."

   Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, page 57

2. historicalA block of buildings in a Roman town.
3. anatomyA structure of the human brain located within the sylvian fissure.

   All mammals have insulas that read their body condition, Dr. Craig said.

   2007 February 6, Sandra Blakeslee, “A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects”, in New York Times

   1 more example

   The insula registers our physical gut feelings, including the sensation of a distended stomach and other inner states like nausea, warmth, a full bladder, and a pounding heart.

   2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 608

   Synonyms: insular cortex, island of Reil