It’s springtime and with the season of rebirth comes gardening! The other day, my mother cursed a colony of aphids that had taken up residence on one of her new flowers. She placed it in the middle of the patio, away from the other plants, so that they wouldn’t also be contaminated by plant-eating creatures. Don’t worry, the highly-relevant quarantine jokes were made.

In that spirit, let’s take a look at the etymology of isolate, per the request of a Word Nerd Wednesday reader.

Coming from the bread and pastry masters across the pond, isolate comes from
the French word of the same meaning, isolé 
which comes from the Italian word of the same meaning, isolato
which comes from the Latin insulatus: “made into an island”.
This, in turn, comes from the Latin word for “island”, insula.

Kind of makes sense that isolate would be related to one of the most isolated geographical formations (islands). That being said, despite how closely the English descendants isolate and island are, the etymology of island actually has totally different, German roots.

Mind blown.

Okay, Nerds, that’s it for today. Happy Hump Day and don’t forget to comment here or on Instagram with words you’d like to see explored in upcoming weeks.

Reference

Online Etymology Dictionary: Isolate
https://www.etymonline.com/word/isolated

Online Etymology Dictionary: Island
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=island