eyot

[prettygoodword]

eyot (ATE, AIT) or ait (AIT) - n., an island in a river or lake.


Rare, and in the UK rarely used outside of the names of islands in the Thames -- not clear if it's used outside the UK at all, except by Icelandophiles and readers of The Lord of the Rings ("That night they camped on a small eyot close to the western bank"). As you might guess, given Tolkien's use, this dates back (through the Middle English form eyt) to Old English, where it was ȳgett, diminutive of ieg/īg, island, which is also the first element of island, with -land stuck on it instead of the diminutive ending.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

except by Icelandophiles

Sorry for being dense--what's the connection?

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

In especially older translations from Icelandic, eyot is often used for island, probably because the Icelandic word, eyja, is a close cognate.

[thistleingrey.livejournal.com]

Neat. Slightly confusing to Icelandophiles who speak or read Icelandic and thus haven't read so much in English translation, perhaps! :) (I'm not an Icelandophile but know several.)

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Heh. I know a few myself.