Island

There is something fascinating about islands for anyone interested in human and natural peculiarities. They are peculiar worlds in the truest sense of the word - on both a small and a larger scale. And they exist in all facets, cold and icy as well as hot and sunny, cloudy and rainy as well as desolate and parched, wooded and species-rich as well as bare and poor. Plants and animals on islands develop special, often ‘endemic’ characteristics that only occur here. And the people who inhabit these worlds have also preserved their peculiarities - far more so than the mainlanders - and life is generally more peaceful and leisurely on the islands.

Islands are ecologically fragile entities that are particularly exposed to the elements - water, wind and weather. The problems resulting from the increasing destruction of the ecological balance are obvious. The gears of the industrial age have not stopped at the islands. However, in addition to visible destruction, islands have also proved to be surprisingly adaptable. In many cases, people, animals and plants have adapted to the special conditions and in some cases developed their own ways of life and survival techniques. Reason enough to stop and take stock.

Word history

A piece of land surrounded by water has been given different names in German languages and dialects over the course of time. The first historically documented form is Old High German îsila, from which Middle High German îsele can still be found today in place names such as the Lake Constance island of Isel. This term was derived in the 9th century via Old French isle from īsŭla, the vulgar Latin form of the Latin root term insula, which in addition to ‘island, islet’ can also be found in the meaning ‘rented house’. The origin of this word is not clear. The Latin phrase *en salo, a corruption of the Greek h en ali oua [ê en ali ousa], ‘the one lying in the salt (sea)’, is usually assumed to be the basic meaning. However, it could also be a diminutive of Ancient Greek νῆσος [nêsos], translated as ‘island, peninsula’.

The Old French isle developed into today's French term île, which since the spelling corrections (rectifications orthographiques) of 1990 can also be written without an accent, i.e. ile. All other ‘island’ terms belonging to the Romance language group, such as Spanish isla, Portuguese ilha, Catalan and Provençal illa as well as Italian isola, Sardinian isula and Romanian insulă, can be traced back to the same root form. The term Insel, which is predominantly used in the German-speaking world today, is also unmistakably part of this range. It emerged in the 13th century in the Middle High German form insule and subsequently developed into insele and finally insel,

In the 16th century, Insel gradually displaced the word ‘Au’ or ‘Aue’, which by then had taken on other meanings and was actually a ‘river landscape, lowland’, which is related to Old Frisian ei- and Old English îeg, ‘a piece of land in the water’, and still refers to a ‘river island’ in the Rhineland today. The corresponding word root is Common Germanic *awjo- or *aujo-, the term for a ‘thing lying in water’. This in turn derives from Indo-European *agwjō ‘belonging to water, surrounded by water’ - to *ahwō ‘water, body of water’. Via Old Norse ey, this root form also entered the Scandinavian languages - Danish and Norwegian ø, Swedish ö, Faroese oy and Icelandic ey. It can also be found, mediated by Middle Low German och, oie and oge, in the name component Oog of several Frisian islands and in Pomeranian Oie.

The term Eiland has a similar word history, which is used today in various ways - in Dutch to this day - as a synonym and poetic paraphrase for ‘island’, but mostly as the name of a ‘small island’. The first part of the word ei has the same root as the above-mentioned floodplain. The term Eiland was adopted in the 13th century from Middle Low German e(i)lant or eyglant. Like Middle Dutch (h)eylant, it is borrowed from Old Frisian eyland or alond. The current German form has been in common use since the 16th century. Kluge interprets Eiland as ‘island land’. In Middle Low German and Middle High German, the first element was reinterpreted and the compound was transformed into the folk etymology einland ‘isolated land’.

In the 17th century, the term Eyland was adopted into standard German. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference officially established the spelling used today. The former meaning of ‘island’ without reference to size has since shifted to today's main meaning of ‘small or smaller island’, also ‘little island’. The German dictionary by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm from 1854 still contains the diminutive form Eiländchen for the latter.

The German term Eiland corresponds to English island. This goes back to Old English i(e)gland. The word first appears in Old English in King Alfred’s translation of Boethius about a.d. 888. The spellings igland and ealond is found in contemporary documents. The letter s was added in the 15th century because it was mistakenly believed that the English word was related to the equivalent Middle French term isle, now French île. This and similar etymologically incorrect spellings were able to prevail because knowledge of Latin and, increasingly, French enjoyed great prestige at the time and a word was considered more refined if it had a Latin origin.

Connected to these expressions in terms of sound is the G oidelic (Celtic) word for ‘island’ - Irish oileán, Scottish Gaelic eileán and manx ellan. These words go back to Old Irish ailén with the same meaning. There, however, the trace is lost, while the basic form inis for ‘island’ has been preserved in the Britannic languages, which also belong to the Celtic area. Today it is found in Welsh ynys, Cornish enys and Breton enez. The etymological source form of these expressions is Proto-Celtic *enisti, which once again reflects the Greek term νῆσος [nêsos] for ‘island’.

Like Eiland, the term Insel replaced the Low German term Werder, also Wert, Werd or Wört, Old High German werid or warid, meaning ‘island, shore area’ in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries. Today it is understood to mean a ‘river island’ or a ‘stretch of land between a river and standing water’ - similar to the Dutch waard for ‘diked land’. Originally, the term referred to ‘elevated, water-free land between marshes’ or, more generally, ‘enclosed land’. The corresponding etymological root form is Germanic *ųer- with the meaning ‘to fend off, cover, close’.

The term holm for a ‘small island’ or ‘peninsula’, which is widespread in Low German and Scandinavian languages, goes back via Middle Low German holm to Old Norse holmr, which meant a piece of land ‘protruding from the surroundings’, i.e. an ‘elevation’, in a figurative sense also an ‘island’. Via Germanic *hulma-, the word leads back to the Indo-European root *kel(ə)- with the meaning ‘to protrude, to lift up’.

In the East and West Slavic languages, i.e. in the northern Slavic language area, the word ostrov is used to describe ‘a piece of land surrounded by water on all sides’, i.e. an ‘island’. This includes Czech and Slovakian ostrov, Russian остров [ostrov], Ukrainian острiв [ostriv], Belarusian востраў [vostraŭ] and Serbian острвo [ostrvo]. The term is derived from Proto-Slavic *o-strovь, a combination of the prefix o- for ‘in’ with the word root *sreu for ‘to flow’, which is an extension of the root form *ser(e) for ‘to flow, to move quickly and violently’. The related Polish word ostrów is only found in place names and as a term for a ‘river island’. The term used in modern Polish for ‘island’ in general, wyspa, is inherited from the Proto-Slavic root *jьzsъpъ or *jьzsъpa (transcribed jɪzsɯpa), supplemented by the prefix wy- meaning ‘out, out, away’.

In the neighbouring Baltic languages Latvian, Lithuanian and Livonian, the ‘island’ is called sala. On the one hand, this word is traced back via Proto-Baltic *sel- or *sal- to Proto-Indo-European *sel-, a variant of *ser- ‘to flow’, and is interpreted as ‘something located within a body of water’. Other language scholars derive sala from *ap(i)sala, which originally meant ‘that which is surrounded by flowing (water)’. Still others assume that sala goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swel- ‘to swell’, with the original meaning ‘deposits, sediments, silt’. Estonian salu ‘swamp island’ and Finnish salo ‘forest island’ are also derived from this. The word of these two Finno-Ugric languages for ‘island’ in general is saari, which is also found in Proto-Finnish and can be traced back to the same Indo-European root form as the Baltic sala. Whether the phonetically similar ‘island’ terms used by the Sami, sulla (in the south) and suolu (in the north), are also related to the Proto-Sami root form *suolōj is unclear.

The Sorbian term for ‘island’, kupa, also means ‘elevation, hill, mound, hilltop’. It refers etymologically to the German word Kuppe, which means ‘mountain or hill with a round summit’ and probably derives from the Late Latin cuppa for ‘head’.

The Croatian word for ‘island’, otok, is made up of two parts - the prefix o- with the meaning ‘around, around’ and the Urslavic *tek, which means ‘to flow, to run’. Literally translated, otok means ‘something surrounded by water’.

In the Serbo-Croatian language area, river islands are referred to as ada. This term was adopted from the Turkish word for ‘island’ in general, ada, in Ottoman Turkish آطه [ada]. This term originally comes from the Proto-Turkish word *ātag, which also means ‘island’. Ada is common in various Turkic languages and is found with the same meaning in Azerbaijani, Crimean Tatar and Turkmen as well as in derived forms in Kazakh атау [atau] and Kumyk атав [ataw].

The Hungarian term for ‘island’, sziget, is derived from the Hungarian szeg for ‘corner, angle’. This is probably a semantic variant of the homonymous noun szeg for ‘nail’ with the original Proto-Ugric meaning ‘wedge’ in the sense of a wedge-shaped projection, a ‘corner’ or ‘wedge-shaped surface’.

In Basque, the oldest language in Europe, an ‘island’ is called uharte. This expression contains the Basque term ur for ‘water, body of water’ on the one hand and arte for ‘between, (in)the middle’ on the other. Uharte can therefore be translated as ‘between the waters’ or ‘in the middle of the water’.

Geography

‘The islands are either close to the continents or scattered far from them in the ocean. Sometimes they form larger or smaller, more or less circular island groups (or archipelagos), sometimes they lie one behind the other in rows (island chains). The islands spread across the ocean can be seen as the ridges, crests and peaks of mountains that rise above the surface of the water and whose base lies below sea level. Land that is otherwise surrounded by the sea and only connected to the mainland on one side is called a peninsula. The largest islands are found in the sea area that separates Asia from the Australian continent; surrounded by many smaller ones, they make up the so-called Asian archipelago or Sunda archipelago, which forms the link, as it were, between Asia and Australia. The eastern side of Asia is characterised by a similar archipelago, where, in addition to the large islands of Japan, there are also individual smaller islands and finally long chains of small islands that form a connection with America. Then the sea between North and South America is also filled with larger and smaller islands which, forming a large arc, connect the two halves.

The islands near Europe, for example Great Britain and Ireland, and the islands to the north of our continent - Iceland, Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya - are also of considerable size; the islands of the Mediterranean are also relatively significant. To the east of South Africa, like a scattered western outpost of the Sunda group and the Australian part of the world, lies the large island of Madagascar. Madagascar. But the largest of all the islands is probably Greenland, which is connected neither to the mainland of North America nor to the islands to the north of it (Baffinsland, Parry Islands, etc.). The size of the islands scattered in the ocean far from the continents is small. Among them, the Polynesian islands play the main role due to their large number and distribution. It can be assumed that the continental land masses have an area of 127 million square kilometres, while the islands only cover 6.5 million square kilometres. With regard to their outer contours, a distinction can be made between elongated and almost circular islands. The elongated, often very narrow islands, whose opposite ends usually end in peaks, are mainly found near the continents, whose coasts either accompany them or are connected to each other in gaps.

Accompanying islands are, for example, the Lofoten Islands, the long chain of Japanese islands and the Kuril Islands along the east coast of Asia. In terms of shape, Madagascar on the east side of South Africa also belongs here. Connecting islands are: the chain of the Sunda Islands, which in turn is linked to Australia by New Guinea, to northern China by the chain of the island of Formosa, the Philippines and the Moluccas, as well as the chain of the West Indies, which connects North and South America, and the Aleutian Islands between North Asia and North America. Not only because of their location, but in some cases also because of their geological constitution, the elongated islands can be regarded as pieces of continents and therefore generally have the same physical constitution.

In other cases, however, these islands often differ from the neighbouring mainland in that they have active volcanoes, such as the Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Philippines, Japanese Islands, Kuril Islands, Aleutian Islands, Lesser Antilles and so on. The almost circular islands are usually completely separated from the continent and appear to be partly independent formations and self-contained formations that cannot be related to the mainland and the course of their coasts. These round islands include in particular the large archipelago of the Great Ocean, Polynesia, the isolated islands and island groups of the Atlantic Ocean, namely Saint Helena, Ascension, the Azores, Iceland; also, despite their proximity to Africa, Madeira, the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands. This subheading also includes the islands in the Indian Ocean: Réunion, Mauritius, Rodriguez, the Comoro Islands, the islets, the Maldives and the Lakadives. The round islands are either high or low. In addition to their rounded outlines, the high islands have a more or less perfect conical shape and often rise to such a significant height that they can compete with the most impressive mountains on earth; for example, the Canary Island of Tenerife with its Pico de Teide (3640 m) and Hawaii in the archipelago of the Sandwich Islands, which rises highest above the sea surface in Mauna Loa (4194 m) among all the round islands. Sometimes these islands have a single cone-shaped mountain, sometimes they have several, mostly active volcanoes and are probably always volcanic. The low islands essentially owe their formation to the activity of coral animals, such as the islands in the South Seas and the Indian Ocean. These islands form low, flat surfaces, which are often covered by water in the centre and always remain lower than the surrounding coral wall (coral reef). Piles of sand that protrude only slightly above the surface of the water, or even smaller elevations of bare rock, have the character of islands, but in the sea and in streams they are not referred to as such, but as sandbanks and cliffs.’ (Meyer 1880:923)

Ecology

Islands form ecologically independent units. They isolate terrestrial organisms through the water and isolate the aquatic organisms living on them through the land. This creates so-called ‘endemic’ units that are isolated from others and only occur in a limited area. This special feature means that islands make a major contribution to global biodiversity.

Of course, island resources are limited and therefore the overall species richness is lower on islands than on the mainland, despite the high level of endemism. However, it is also more endangered and any intervention in the ecosystem has far more massive consequences here than in mainland areas.

Species that colonise smaller islands in particular have a special characteristic known as adaptive radiation. In this process, a species that arrives on an archipelago becomes more diverse over time and splits into new species or subspecies. A species that reaches an island ecosystem may face little competition for resources or find that the resources it found in its previous habitat are no longer available. Together, these factors lead to individual evolutionary branches with different survival options (Lovette 2018).

A separate branch of science, island biogeography, emerged in the 1960s to investigate these processes in more detail. It was originally concerned with ‘the ecology of marine islands as isolated ecosystems’, but has since expanded its field of activity to include inland islands and so-called habitat islands. The latter are habitats ‘that are surrounded by other types of ecosystems’ (Spektrum der Wisenschaft 2024). In addition to a well-founded inventory, this branch of research is also concerned with the conservation and protection of island habitats.

Psychology

Islands have very different effects on people. Their common denominator ‘is neither the landscape nor their position on the globe, but rather the fact that they are surrounded by water - the character of the water itself is the magical element that offers the islander transformation. The water, this seeming nothingness, is everything at once: moat, barrier, wilderness, source of food and hope and the way out. The ocean, as all seafaring people can attest, is not one place, but many.’ Like the sea, islands also have their own special characteristics.

‘A person who retreats to an island is very different from a native islander. There is something quite suspicious about an individual who tries to return to insular innocence. But this attempt is in any case futile, because no one can really take possession of an island. It is a mainland misconception that you can control everything you set your eyes on: on an island you become possessed. Islands have the unique ability to take possession of their inhabitants, whether they were born on them or arrived as castaways or potential colonisers, which is perhaps why they have such a wealth of myths and legends.’

Each island ultimately forms a ‘final, self-contained unit, self-sufficient and independent because of the water’ that surrounds it. This ‘sense of mystery and power must be communicated to both groups born on the islands and those who seek them. The situation is of course princely when someone builds a house on an island and lives in it, but an island is much more than a principality. It is the very last refuge, a magical, unsinkable world.’ (Theroux 1996:682)

Mythology

In many cultures, this ‘very last refuge’, the world beyond that promised paradisiacal conditions after death, took the form of an island. On the one hand, it was a place of transition, on the other hand the ‘realm of the dead’, where the ancestors honoured in this life lived, and finally a space of perfect contentment, beauty and harmony.

Probably the best-known example of this type is Elysion, ancient Greek Ἠλύσιον [Elýsion], Latin Elysium, the ‘Isles of the Blessed’, Greek Μακάρων νῆσοι [Μakárōn nēsoi]. Hei Homer, this was the counterpart to Tartarus, the infernal underworld. In the ‘Odyssey’ (4,561-565), he describes it ‘as a place without rain, snow or winter, where people walk through life with ease.’ (Gross 2024) This island world was localised ‘in the far west of the earth's circle, around which the Okeanos flows. Those heroes who were loved by the gods or to whom they gave immortality were transported to these Elysian realms.’ (wikipedia 2025)

The Celtic ‘otherworld’ (Otherworld in English, Tir nAill in Irish, Annwfn in Welsh), which can be found in various forms, is similarly insular. Access is possible for normal mortals, albeit only under certain conditions. One of these island worlds is the Irish Tír na nÓg, the ‘Land of Eternal Youth’, also known as Oileán na mBeo, ‘Island of the Living’, or Hy na Beatha, ‘Island of Life’. This place was located ‘beyond the ocean’ and could only be reached by an arduous journey. In the original mythology, however, it was not a physical place, but a spiritual dimension that could not be reached by ordinary means of travel. Access often required supernatural help or special circumstances.

Apart from this, the islands handed down in myths were often localised in earthly geography. For example, the Isle of Man in the centre of the British Isles was associated with Manannan Mac Lir, a Celtic god of the sea and the dead, and was interpreted as his seat on the throne and the world beyond. The Canary Islands were regarded as the location of the ‘Garden of the Hesperides’, where the ‘golden apples of immortality’ grew. In ancient Greece, Delos was regarded as the birthplace of Apollo and Crete as the birthplace of Zeus, the father of the gods. There are a particularly large number of islands in (South) East Asia and Oceania that were and are associated with otherworldly worlds.

The myth of a lost island of former earthly and spiritual greatness culminated in the tale of Atlantis, as first recorded by the Greek philosopher Plato in the 4th century. This island kingdom is said to have been home to a powerful civilisation that perished due to a natural disaster. According to the myth, the inhabitants of Atlantis, the Atlantids, were punished in this way for their greed for power and wealth as well as their arrogance.

Just like at the end, in many myths there is also an island at the beginning of life. In Polynesia, the demigod Maui fished land out of the sea. Even today, the North Island of New Zealand is called Te Ika-a-Māui, ‘the fish of Maui’ by the Maori. In Native North America, the world as a whole is mythologised as Turtle Island. This spiritual tradition has its roots in the mythology of the Anishinaabe in particular, but also other peoples. According to their traditions, the world is carried by a giant turtle, which symbolises stability and care after life has been brought up from the depths of the water.

Poetry

In poetry, islands have a symbolic meaning. They incorporate mythical and psychological elements and are often depicted as places of isolation, fantasy and re-creation. In many cases, islands represent a seclusion that is both physical and metaphorical. And in such places, which serve both contemplation and edification, individuals as well as entire societies can withdraw into themselves and develop a new character. Here, people can find mystical experiences or cosmic renewal.

The world of islands in literature was opened up by Homer with the ‘Odyssey’ around the middle of the 9th century. In this epic, islands are the scenes of temptations and challenges. And they offer home and identity. Later Greek and Roman authors expanded on these worlds. Since then, islands have often symbolised the possibility of a new beginning or an escape from reality. They serve as places for experimentation with social structures and enable authors to create critical reflections on contemporary society. In this context, islands became both utopias, such as Thomas More's eponymous island ‘Uopia’, which represented ideal societies, and dystopias, in which the world reaches its abysses. Islands act as a mirror for real social problems by representing extreme versions of the respective social ills.

In poetic terms, islands are therefore not only a place that can actually be localised, but also a product of the imagination. According to Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1877), an ‘island in the figurative sense’ generally means ‘something isolated, separated from other, common, ordinary things’. In addition to natural conditions, this can just as well be human characteristics. An island is therefore anything that is unique within the prevailing geographical or social environment. And last but not least: islands now also exist in the virtual world of the Internet. Ultimately, they stand for everything that has retained its peculiarities in the midst of an all-encompassing world.

Island types

According to wikipedia, an ‘island’ is a ‘land mass that rises above sea level, even at high tide, that is completely surrounded by water but is not considered a continent. Even man-made structures (bridges, causeways) do not change this convention if nature has provided a complete water environment by then. Sylt is therefore still an island. Accordingly, the Peloponnese is a peninsula - although a canal cuts through the isthmus and connection to Attica. Some countries have extended this definition even further. In Canada, for example, you can only speak of an island if a tree grows on a piece of land. This definition is necessary there, as building is only permitted on such islands.’ (wikipedia 2025)

The term ‘island’ is therefore defined differently from country to country. Beyond the actual literal meaning of a piece of land that protrudes over a surrounding body of water, the following island forms can be distinguished:

by location:

• sea island, also marine island: a piece of land surrounded by the sea
  • ocean island: an island completely surrounded by an ocean and not connected to the continental shelf
  • offshore island: an island located in a shelf sea and connected to the respective continent in the immediate vicinity
• lagoon island: an island located in or on the edge of a lagoon
• delta island: an island facing the sea or a lake in the estuary of a river
• inland island: an island in an inland body of water, specifically
  • lake island: island in a lake
  • iver island: form of an island located in a river that is constantly changing to a considerable extent
  • lock island: special form of a river island, which is connected to a lock system, during the construction of which it was usually created
  • reservoir island: formed as a remnant of land in an area flooded by the damming of a river
• island of the third degree: an island on an island, i.e. island in a lake located on an island

by composition:

• isolated island: a stand-alone island without a neighbouring island
• double island: two islands of almost the same size or shape with only a relatively narrow natural water passage between them
• island group: a more or less loose association of islands
• island chain: a group of islands in which the islands are lined up along an imaginary, approximately straight or curved line
• archipelago: a contiguous group of islands
• atoll: a ring of coral islands consisting of a ring-shaped reef and a lagoon, mainly in tropical marine regions

by size:

• continental island: an island over 100,000 km² in size
• main island: largest island of an archipelago
• minor island: in some regions also called calf, smaller island accompanying a larger island
• islet: small island

by origin:

• volcanic island: island created by volcanic activity
  • hotspot island: an island located directly above a volcano or dominated by an active volcano
• rock or rocky island: from a rocky outcrop in the water (in its most minimal form a boulder) to a smaller rocky island
• tectonic island: island formed by tectonic processes and erosion
• coral island: island formed by corals
  • cay (also spelled caye or key): a small, low-elevation, sandy island on the surface of a coral reef
  • phosphate island: special form of coral island on which phosphate deposits have formed due to the accumulation of guano (bird droppings)
• barrier island: a mostly narrow, elongated island that usually lies parallel to the coast and is formed by natural sediment deposits from waves, currents and wind
• skerry: island created by post-glacial land uplift
• sediment island: island consisting of deposited material such as sand or rubble
• dune island; island formed by sand or gravel deposits with raised sand hills
• sand island (also called high sand): area formed by ocean currents, consisting of sand or gravel that permanently protrudes from the water
• sandbank (also called gravel bank): area formed by deposits of sand or gravel, which is usually below or only just above the water level in seas or inland waters
• shoal: a natural submerged ridge, bank or jetty consisting of or covered with sand or other unconsolidated material rising from the bottom of a body of water near or above the surface
• floating island (also called floaton, sud, or tussock): an accumulation of floating aquatic plants, mud and peat that can reach a thickness of several metres
• artificial island: an island created by man through sand filling or construction work

by connection to the mainland:

• true island: a piece of land protruding from the water that is completely surrounded by water and has no land connection
• tidal island: a piece of land that is connected to the mainland or surrounded by water, depending on the height of the tide
• water-level dependent island: an island located in an inland body of water, especially in a reservoir, that can be reached on foot at low tide
• inland peninsula: inland island with a causeway or bridge connection to the mainland or another island
  • causeway island: a piece of land connected to the mainland or another island by a causeway
  • bridge island: piece of land connected to the mainland or another island by one or more bridges
  • tied island or land-tied island: a piece of land connected to the mainland or another island by a tombolo or a spit of land made of beach material connected to the mainland at both ends

by political situation:

• high seas island: an island located outside the sovereign territory of a state in international waters
• island state: an island forming its own state or the main island of this state that gives it its name
• island province: an island or group of islands forming a province of its own
• island district: an island or group of islands forming its own district
• island municipality: an island or group of islands forming its own municipality
• city island: an island entirely occupied by a city area

by historical circumstances:

• silted-up island: an island completely connected to the mainland or another island by natural processes or structural measures
• vanishing island: an island only visible at low tide or certain water levels, completely submerged at high tide
• sunken island: an island that used to rise above water but has now completely disappeared into the sea or a lake
• mythical island: an island reported in mythical lore, sagas or legends, usually one that cannot be localised precisely

Translations

• Abaknon:  isla
• Abaza:  дзбжьа [dzbžʹa]
• Abenaki:  mnahan
• Abkhaz:  аҟәара [aqwara]
• Acehnese:  pulo
• Adygean:  xыгьэxьyн [chyg’ech’un]
• Afadé:  kúlbedíh ráchlem
• Afrikaans:  eiland n, pl eilande
• Ainu:  モシリ [moshir]
• Ainu, dialectal:  mosír, pónmosir
• Akan:  supɔ
• Akkadian:  nagiu, gazrūnītu
• Alamannic:  insel f, pl inseln
• Albanian (Shqip):  ishull, pl ishujt, ujdhesë
• Aleut:  tanax̂
• Altaic:  orto, âryk, pl ortolyktar
• Amharic:  dæset, dasate
• Anglosaxon:  īeġ f, pl ieger
• Aquitanian:  irla, pl irles
• Arabic:  تسقش [jasîra], pl سقش [juzur]
• Aragonese:  isla f, pl islas
• Aramean:  ܓܙܪܬܐ [gāzartā]
• Arapaho:  benéhe’
• Armenian:  կղզի [kġzi], pl կղզիներ [kġziner]
• Aromunian: insula
• Assamese:  দ্বীপ [dvipa] m, pl dvip
• Asturian:  islla f, pl isllas
• Aukan (Surinam):  tabiki
• Avestan:  dvaêpa-
• Aymara:  huat’a, wat’a
• Azeri:  aдa / آدا [ada], pl adaları
• Bavarian-Austrian:  insl
• Balinese: nusa, pulau
• Bambara: gun, gunun
• Bashkir:  утрау [utrau], pl утрауҙары [utrauzary]
• Basque:  uharte, ugarte, irla, pl uharteak, ugarteak, irlak
• Bearnese:  isle, iscle, ille, pl isles, illes
• Belarusian:  востраў [vostraŭ], остров [ostrov] m, pl астравы [astravi]
• Bemba: icishi
• Bengali: দবীপ  [dabīp]
• Bhodjpuri:  দ্বীপ [dvip]
• Bichlamar:  æland
• Bihari:  dvipa
• Bikol:  puro
• Birman: ကယ့န္း [kyùn], tjùñ, kùn, pl kyũsú
• Bislama:  aelan
• Blackfoot: mini
• Bobangi: æsanga, dim æsik’
• Bosnian:  otok, ostrvo, pl ostrva
• Breton:  enez, pl inizi
• Bulgarian:  остров [ostrov] m, pl острови [ostrovi]
• Bungu (Tansania):  ichisiwa
• Calabrese: isula f, pl isule
• Caló: beschí
• Cantonese: dóu
• Capeverdian: ilha
• Caribbean Creole:  il, pl ils
• Cashubian:  ostrow, pl ostrowë
• Catalan:  illa f, pl illes
• Cebuano:  pulo, isla, pl kepuloan
• Chagatai:  ارال [aral]
• Chamorro:  isla
• Chechen:  гайир [ġajir], pl гайреш [ġajreš]
• Chewa (Malawi):  chilumba
• Chinese (Mandarin):  dǎo, pl qúndǎo
• Chinese, Shanghai:  tɔ³’
• Chuwash:  yтpaв [utrav], yтă [ută]
• Comorian:  ntsanu (Land), njazi, dzidzi
• Coptic:  ⲙⲟⲅⲉ [moge], ⲙⲟⲅⲉⲓ [mogei], ⲙⲟⲅⲓ [mogi]
• Cornish:  enys, pl enesow
• Corsican:  isula f, pl isule
• Cree:  ᒥᓂᔥᑎᒄ [ministik]
• Crimean Tatar:  aдa [ada]
• Croatian:  otok, pl otoci, dim otočić
• Cymric (Welsh):  ynys, pl ynysoedd
• Czech:  ostrov m, pl ostrovy, dim výspa
• Dahalik:  ’ad
• Danish:  ø, pl øer, dim holm, skær
• Dankali:  ad
• Dari:  جزيې [jazîrâ]
• Denya (Anyang):  gêbw’gê met’nnyi
• Diola:  ekinkay
• Drehu:  hnapeti
• Douala:  eyondí
• Dutch:  eiland n, pl eilanden
• Egyptian:  aa
• Egyptian Arabic:  gezira, ât
• Englisch:  island, isle, pl islands, isles, dim islet, rock, eyot
• Esperanto:  insulo, pl insuloj
• Estonian:  saar, pl saared
• Faroese:  oy, oyggj, pl oyar, ojyar
• Farsi:  ئه [jaza], جزیره [jazīre], pl روئه [jazayer]
• Fijian:  yanuyanu
• Finnish:  saari, koroke, pl saaret, koroket
• Fongbe:  tòkpó
• Francoprovencal:  île
• French:  île f, pl îles
• friesisch:  eilân n, oog m,  pl eilannen, ooge
• Friulian:  isule f, pl ìsulis
• Fulfulde:  lwarii
• Gaelic:  eileán m, pl eileanan
• Gagauz:  ada
• Galician:  illa f, pl illas
• Gashua (Nigeria):  ackwâk
• Georgian:  კუნძული [kundzuli], pl კუნძულები [kundzulebi]
• German:  insel f, eiland n, pl inseln, eilande, dim inselchen
• Girjama (Kenia):  kisiwa
• Greek:  νησί [nêsí], νησoς [nêsos], nisoς [nisos], pl nisoi [nisoi]
• Greek, Doric:  νᾶσος [nâsos]
• Guarani:  ypa’û, y pa'ũ yvy
• Guerniais:  île
• Gujarati: ṭāpu m, dvīp m, beṭè m
• Guyanese:  zilé
• Haitian:  il, zile, pl ils
• Hausa:  tsíbirin, tsibiri, pl tsíbirai
• Hawaiian:  moku, mokupuni, moku’aina, pl pae’aina
• Hebrew:  אי [ī] m, pl האיים [ha-iyîm]
• Hiligaynon:  polo, isla f, pl islas
• Hindi:  dvīp m, tāpū, pl dvip
• Hindustani, Sarnami:  samoendar mê ke des
• Hmong:  koog
• Hungarian:  sziget, pl szigetek
• Iban:  pulau
• Icelandic:  ey, eyja, pl eyjar
• Ido:  insulo
• Igbo:  agwe-etiti
• Ilokano:  pilo
• Iloko:  púro
• Ilonggo:  isla, pl islas
• Indo-Aryan:  *dvæpa
• Indo-Germanic (Indo-European):  *enslā
• Indonese:  pulau, pl kepulauan
• Ingush:  gheirie
• Interlingua:  insula f, pl insulas
• Inuktitut:  ᕿᑭᖅᑕᖅ [qikiqtaq]
• Irish:  oileán m, inis m, pl oileáin
• Italian:  isola f, pl isole, dim isolotto, isoletta
• Japanese:  島 (Kanji) bzw. しま (Hiragasa) [shima], 諸島 bzw. しょとう  [shotô / shotou]
• Javanese:  pulo, pl mepuloan
• Jerseyan:île, pl îles
• Jiddish:  אינדזל [indzl]
• Kabardian (East Circassian):  остров [ostrov], pl островхэр [ostrovxar]
• Kailo (Ledo): pulo
• Kalaallisut (Greenlandic):  qeqertaq
• Kalmyk:  арл [arl]
• Kanaque: hnapeti
• Kannada:  kurva, kuruva, kurava, dvīp
• Karakalpak:  атаў [ataú], pl атаўлары [ataúlary]
• Karachai-Balkar:  айрымкан [ajrymkan], pl айрымканлары [ajrymkanlary]
• Karelian:  cyapи [suari], pl cyapeт [suaret]
• Kashmiri:  zuwu
• Kazakh:  арал [aral], pl аралдары [araldarj]
• Khakassian:  олтыры [oltyry], pl олтырыхтар [oltyryxtar]
• Khmer (Cambodian):  koh
• Kiga:  eizinga, ekirwa, pl amazinga, ebirwa
• Kikuyu:  githama
• Kiribati: te abamwakoro
• Komi:  остров [ostrov], pl островъяс [ostrov’jas]
• Korean:  제도 [jedo], 섬 [səm, seom]
• Kumyk:  атав [atav], pl атавлары [atavlary]
• Kurdish:  girav, navro
• Kurmanch:  aда [ada], cizîr, pl aдаeд [adaed], cizîrêd
• Kyrgyz: арал [aral], pl аралдары [araldarj]
• Ladin:  isola, ijula f, pl isoles, ijules
• Languedocian:  isoule, pl isoules
• Laotian:  ດອນ [döön], dohn, goh
• Latin:  insula f, pl insulae
• Latin, Vulgar:  isola, pl isolae
• Latvian:  sala f, pl salas
• Lifuan:  napet
• Limburgian:  eiland
• Lithuanian:  sala f, pl salos
• Livian:  salà, pl salas
• Lojban:  daplu
• Lozi:  soli, lioli, sikoli
• Luganda:  kizinga
• Luxembourgish:  insel, ënsel f, pl inselen
• Maasai:  oloigerugeruno longariak
• Macedonian:  остров [ostrov] m, pl острови [ostrovi]
• Madurese: polo, daret
• Maibrat: sato
• Makonde: kisiwa
• Malagasy: nosy
• Malay:  pulo, pl kepulauan
• Malayalam:  ദ്വീപ് [dviipū], turutti
• Maldivian (Dhivehi):  ra, pl ráša
• Maltesie:  gzira f, pl gżejjer
• Mambwe: cilila
• Mandshu: bita (Flussinsel), dim niyamašan
• Mangareva: motuhaga
• Mansi: tomp, tump
• Manx:  ellan m, pl ellanyn, dim innis
• Maori:  moutere, motu
• Mapudungun:  wapi
• Marathi:  बेट [beţ] (allgemein), juwê, jû (Flussinsel)
• Marquesan:  motu henua
• Minnan:  tó-sū
• Mirandese:  illa, pl illas
• Middle Dutch:  heylant, eylant
• Middle English:  ilond
• Middle High German:  isele, wert
• Middle Latin:  insula f, pl insulae
• Middle Lower German:  elant, eilant, einlant, eiglant, eyglant, olant
• Middle Turkish:  atov
• Moldavian:  инсулэ [insulă], pl инсулеле [insulele]
• Moma (Indonesia):  levuto
• Mongolian:  ap [ar], арал [aral], pl арлууд [arluud]
• Mordvin: цёнга [zjonga], yшиe [ušije]
• Morisyen:  îl, pl îls
• Nahuatl:  tlalhuactli
• Nauruan: eb
• Navajo: kéyah (Land)
• Ndebele:  isihlenge
• Neapolitan:  isula f, pl isule
• Nepalese:  द्वीप [dvīpa]
• New Caledonian:  nu, dau
• Nganasanisch:  ñuai
• Ngwele:  chisiwa, pl visiwa
• Niue:  motu tu taha
• Nogai:  арал [aral]
• Norse:  eyland
• Norwegian:  øy, øya f, pl øyer, dim holm
• Nyanja:  chilumba
• Occitan:  iscla f, pl isclas
• Old Canarian:  -ari
• Old Celtic:  *eni-stî
• Old English:  igland, igeland, ealond, eglond, īeg, pl iglande, ealonde
• Old French:  isle, ille f, pl isles, illes, dim illette
• Old Frisonian:  eyland, alond
• Old Greek:  ῆσος [nêsos]
• Old High German:  îsila f, pl îsile
• Old Indian:  dvîpá
• Old Irish:  ailén, inis
• Old Japanese:  sima
• Old Norse:  eyg f, pl eygjer, dim dolmr, holmi
• Old Persian:  arak
• Old Provencal:  isla, iscla, illa, isha, pl iscle, ille
• Old Saxonian:igland
• Old Turkish:  *âryk
• Olkola (Australia):  atuburrk
• Ossetian:  сакъадах [saķadaĥ]
• Oykangand (Australia):  onalkal
• Pali:  dîpa-, °aka-
• Pampangan: isla, pulu
• Panganisan:  isla
• Papiamentu:  isla, pl islas
• Pardj:  nîr demma
• Pashtu:  جزيې [jazîr], ټاپو [tăpo], pl جزيرې [jazîr-e]
• Piemontese:  isola f, pl isole
• Pig Latin:  islanday, pl islandays
• Pitkern:  ailen
• Polish:  wyspa, pl wyspy, dim wysepka, ostrów
• Portuguese:  ilha f, pl ilhas, dim ilhota, ilhote
• Provencal:  illa f, isclo m f, pl illas, iscles
• Pulaar (Senegal):  ’arii
• Punjabi:  twipû, ţāpū
• Purepecha:  omikua
• Quechua:  churu, tisqu, tara, mamacuchapi tiyac allpa
• Quenya:  lóna
• Rajasthani:  dvipa
• Rama:  ipang
• Rapanui:  motu
• Rarotongan:  motu
• Retoroman:  insla, insula f, pl insle, insule
• Romani:  dvip
• Romanyol:  isula f, pl isule
• Rotuman:  motu, pl atmotu
• Romanian:  insulă f, pl insulele
• Rundi:  ikirwa
• Rundi-Rwandese:  izinga, pl amazinga
• Runyoro:  ekirwa
• Russian:  остров [ostrov] m, pl островa [ostrova]
• Ruthenian:  остров [ostrov] m, pl острaвa [ostrava]
• Salomonese:  aelan
• Sami, North:  suolu
• Sami, South:  sulla, pl sullot
• Samoanisch:  motu, pl atumotu
• Sango:  ilisima, caŋa
• Sanskrit:  जलवेष्टितभूमिः [jalaveṣṭitabhūmiḥ], dvîpah m, pl dvîp
• Saramaccan:  paati a wata mindi
• Sardinian:  isula f, pl isule
• Sawu:  rai
• Scottish:  ilan
• Sepedi:  sehlakahlaka
• Serbian:  острвo [ostrvo], pl острва [ostrva]
• Seychellois:  il, pl zil
• Sesotho:  sehlakahlakê
• Shetlandic:  ay, pl ayer
• Shingazidja:  isiwa, siwa
• Shona:  chitsuwa
• Sicilian:  isula f, pl isule
• Sindarin:  tol
• Sindhi:  ٻيٽَ [bbeŧa]
• Singhalese:  diveine, pl divein
• Skou (New Guinea):  piítu
• Slovak:  ostrov m, pl ostrovy
• Slovenian:  otok, pl otoki
• Somali:  jasiirad
• Songhai:  gungu
• Sorbian:  kupa, pl kupy
• Spanish:  isla f, pl islas
• Sranan:  eilanti
• Sudovian:  salâ f, pl salas
• Sundanese:  pulau, nusa
• Surinamese:  eilanti
• Swahili:  kisiwa, pl visiwa
• Swazi:  si-chingi
• Swedish:  ö, pl öarna
• Swiss German:  insel
• Tagalog:  pila, isla, pl kapuluan
• Tahitian:  motu (flache Insel), fenua (hohe Insel), pl motumotu
• Tajik:  Ҷазирa [ğazîra], pl Ҷазираҳои [jazîrâhoi]
• Tamazigh:  tigzirt
• Tamil:  tīvu, pl tîvukal
• Tatar:  утрау [utrau], pl утраулары [utrawlari]
• Telugu: dvīpamu, dīvi, dyvm
• Thai:  เกาะ [kɔ / kho], เกาะกลางถนน [ekâksangamm], เกาะ [ekâ]
• Tigrinya:  deset
• Timorese: nusa, illa
• Toki Pona:  ma lon telo
• Tok Pisin:  ailan
• Tongan:  motu, pl otumotu
• Tsalagi:  amayeli
• Tsolyan: pedhénikh
• Tubu:  súkku, beniní
• Turkmen: ада [ada], pl адалары [adalary]
• Tuvaluan: penoua
• Tuvaluan, Tarawa:  benua, bînu
• Tuvian:  ap [ar]
• Turkish:  ada, pl adaları
• Turkish Osman:  آطه [ada]
• Twi:  ɛsupɔw
• Ubykh:  ʃwajʨwaχwəraaj
• Ukrainian:  ocтрів [ostriv], pl острови [ostrovi]
• Ulwa: asangdak
• Uurdu:  جزىره [ğazīra] m, pl ğazîre
• Uyghur: ئارال / apaл [aral], جەزىرە / җәзирә [šezirë], pl aralliri
• Uzbek:  opoл [orol], pl ороллари [orollari]
• Valencian:  illa f, pl ille
• Venetian:  ixola, pl ixole
• Veps: sar’, pl saret
• Vietnamese:  đảo, hòn đảo, miền đồng rừng giữa thảo nguyên, cái đứng tách biệt
• Volapük:  nisul
• Voro:  saar, pl saart
• Votyak:  ди [di]
• Vures:  vōnō
• Wagiman:  gubam
• Wallis:  motu
• Wallonian:  iye, pl iyes
• Wangaray (Philippines):  puro, isla
• Vogul: posäl, dim tumpp
• Wolof:  dun
• Xhosa:  isiqithi
• Yakut:  apы [arj], apыы [arjy]
• Yanyuqa:  waliyangu
• Yao (Tansania):  ciluumba
• Yemeni:  djazira, pl djuzur
• Yoruba:  erékúsú
• Zarma:  gungu
• Zazaki:  گراو [girâ], pl گراوێ [girawê]
• Ziryen:  ди [di]
• Zulu:  qingi, pl iziqingi

Sources and literature

• anonym: Insel, in: Meyers Konversationslexikon. Eine Encyklopädie des allgemeinen Wissens, Band 9, 3. Auflage, Leipzig 1880
• anonym: Insel, in: wikipedia, abgerufen 5.1.2025 = https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insel
• anonym: Elysion, in: wikipedia, abgerufen 5.1.2025 = https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysion
• Karl Baarslag: Island of Adventrure, London 1944 Volkmar Billig: Inseln, Geschichte einer Faszination, Berlin 2010 Roland Borgards: Ein Insularium des Großen Ozeans. Göttingen 2001
• Gavion Francis: Inseln. Die Kartierung einer Sehnsucht, Köln 2021
• Anne Marie Fröhlich (hg.): Inseln in der Weltliteratur, Zürich 1988
• Torsten Gaitzsch: Unbekannte Inselschätze. 44 erstaunliche Robinsonaden mitten in eutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, München 2022
• Natalie R. Graham / Daniel S. Gruner / Jun Y. Lim / Rosemary G. Gillespie: Island ecology and evolution. Challenges in the Anthropocene, in: Environmental Conservation 44 (4), June 27, 2017, pp. 323–335
• Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm: Deutsches Wörterbuch, Band IV/II, Leipzig 1877 = https://www.dwds.de/wb/dwb/insel
• Viktoria Gross: Die Unterwelt der griechischen Mythologie, o.O. 24.10.2024 = https://www.viktoriagroos.de/post/die-unterwelt-der-griechischen-mythologie
• Thomas Käsbohrer: Die vergessenen Inseln. Eine Reise durch die Geschichte der Welt zu mir selbst, München 2018
• Friedrich Kluge: Etymologisches Wörterbuh der deutschen Sprache, 21. unveränderte Auflage, Berlin/New York 1975, S. 328
• Irby Lovette: Why Evolution Goes Wild on Islands. The Science of Adaptive Radiation, in : All About Birds, December 20, 2018 = https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/why-evolution-goes-wild-on-islands-the-science-of-adaptive-radiation/
• Lothar Meyer (hg.): Das Buch der Inseln, Frankfurt am Main 1990
• Paul Theroux: Die glücklichen Inseln Ozeaniens, München 1996
• Stefan Ulrich: Isole Belle. Ganz Italien in 15 Inselgeschichten, München 2024