Iceland2
(ˈaɪslənd)
Also 6 Yselonde, Iseland, 7 Island, Isling.
[ME. Island, Yslond, etc., ad. ON. {Iacu}sland, f. {iacu}s-s ice + land land.]
The name of a large island lying on the border of the Arctic Ocean, between Norway and Greenland; used attrib. in the names of articles imported from or peculiar to that country, as Iceland clothes, Iceland fish, Iceland horse, Iceland pony, Iceland wool; also Iceland beer, a fermented liquor made from Arenaria peploides (Syd. Soc. Lex.); Iceland crystal = Iceland spar; Iceland cur, Iceland dog (also short Iceland), a shaggy, sharp-eared white dog, formerly in favour as a lap-dog in England; Iceland falcon, Falco rusticolus islandicus, a variety of gyr-falcon native to Iceland; Iceland gull, Larus glaucoides, a grey and white Arctic gull, Iceland lichen, Iceland moss, a species of edible lichen, Cetraria islandica, having certain medicinal properties; hence Iceland moss jelly, Iceland moss starch (Syd. Soc. Lex.); Iceland poppy, a variety of Papaver nudicaule, the yellow Arctic poppy; Iceland sea-grass, Ulva latissima (Syd. Soc. Lex.); Iceland spar, a transparent variety of calcite, used in demonstrating the polarization of light.
| c 1205 Lay. 22622 Gutlond & Irlond, Orcanie & Islond. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3734 Scotlonde & yslonde & orcadas. 1577–87 Holinshed Scot. Chron. (1805) I. 22 Island, that lieth in the cold frosty sea beyond the Artike circle toward the North pole. 1780 Von Troil Iceland 63 Floke stayed here the whole winter, and..gave the name of Iceland to the country. |
| c 1420 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) I. 58 In vj yslandfyss' xxjd. c 1430 Ibid. 60 Iselandfishs. 1541 Will of Joyce Stingen (Somerset Ho.), Yselonde clothe. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. vi. (1870) 147 They wyll sell there Iselond curres. 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Eng. Dogs v. (1880) 37 Iseland dogges, curled & rough al ouer,..greatly set by, esteemed, taken vp, and made of. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. i. 44. c 1618 Fletcher Q. Corinth iv. i, Hang, hair, like hemp, or like the Isling curs. 1627 Drayton Moon-calf Wks. (1748) 174/1 Our water-dogs and islands here are shorn. 1659 Lady Alimony v. iii, Lies the fault there you Island Curre? 1771 Sir J. Hill Fossils 76 Iceland Spar. 1771 Gentl. Mag. XLVI. 297/1 The Iceland Falcon..is a noble and stately bird. 1797 Brougham in Phil. Trans. LXXXVII. 379, I ground to an even and pretty sharp edge two pieces of Iceland crystal. 1805 R. Reece (title) Observations on the Anti-Phthisical Properties of the Lichen Islandicus or Iceland Moss. 1822 Mem. Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc. IV. 181 They [sc. the Shetland fishermen] have distinguished this bird by the name of Iceland Scorie, (or the Young Iceland Gull); Scorie being the general Shetlandic appellation for the young of several species of the gull family. 1829 Nat. Philos. I. Polaris. Light Introd. 1 (U.K.S.) A substance called Iceland spar, calcareous spar, or carbonate of lime. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 191 The last foreign wools I bought were a cargo of Iceland wools. 1843 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Birds I. 27 Those specimens obtained from Iceland were called exclusively Iceland Falcons. Ibid. III. 461 The Iceland Gull sometimes makes its appearance in winter at the mouth of the Elbe. 1884 Gardening Illustrated 8 Nov. 425/2 A hot summer..seems to be particularly trying to these Iceland poppies. 1901 H. H. Slater Man. Birds Iceland 31 The Iceland Falcon is a remarkably handsome bird. 1927 M. U. Hachisuka Handbk. Birds Iceland 40 The Iceland Falcon is a national emblem. 1930 Ibis 415 The Iceland Gull apparently fills the same ‘niche’ in Godthaab Fiord as the Herring-Gull..in the British Isles. 1956 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles V. 21 In Ireland the Iceland gyr-falcon has been recorded five times. Ibid. 22 The Iceland falcon was not nearly as uncommon as had been supposed. 1962 Ibid. XI. 334 In flight the Iceland gull looks more graceful and has more rapid wing-beats. |
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Add: Iceland disease Path. [after an outbreak of the disease in 1948–9 in Akureyri, northern Iceland] = myalgic encephalomyelitis s.v. *myalgic a.
| 1954 White & Burtch in Neurology IV. 506 (heading) *Iceland Disease: a new infection simulating acute anterior poliomyelitis. 1987 N.Y. Times 28 July c4/2 The clinical symptoms have been described..under such names as epidemic neuromyasthenia, myalgic encephalitis, Iceland disease, Royal Free disease and postviral fatigue syndrome. Outbreaks or epidemics have been reported in eight countries dating back to 1934. |