> From 'An essay on substrate studies and the origin of Saami'
> "
> 6. sáll- 'major island in the sea' (< PS *sa:l-) || Sállan :
> Sállam- (Ákn/Hám) || Sállan : Sállam- (MVá) || Sállir (Norw. Kvaløy,
> earlier Salarøy ? < Saami) [| Dávdnesálla ? < *ta:vme:-sa:lë, cf
> Norwegian Tamsøy (< Saami) (Lea).
> The element sáll(a)- appears in four island names. The first three
> of these denote major islands in the sea, and even the fourth,
> Dávdnesálla, belongs to the largest island in the fjord Porsángu.
...
It is puzzling that the substrate element *sa:l- strikingly resembles
the shared Finnic-Saami word *salaw > Finn. salo '(archaic) large
island", Saami suolu 'island'. However, even if the two are connected,
this does not suggest that the substrate languages in Lapland were
Uralic. The word *salaw has no cognates in the more eastern branches
of Uralic, and it is usually taken to be a Baltic loanword, cf.
Lithuanian salà 'island' (< Proto-Baltic *sala:). But also the Baltic
word is isolated and has no Indo-European etymology. Thus, Saarikivi's
(in press, a) suggestion that the word may originally derive from an
extinct substrate language seems well possible. If the correspondence
between Finnic-Saami(-Baltic) *salaw and the Laplandic substrate item
*sa:l- is not due to coincidence, the word must have been shared
between languages spoken in the coast of the Arctic Ocean and further
south in the eastern Baltic Sea region - either as a loanword or due
to genetic relationship.
> "
Perhaps Aikio also thought of Sjælland (Zealand) here?
Ibd.
"
An element *iñc^- 'outermost island' seems to occur in two island
names. Iz^z^ot (< PS *iñc^uje:-k) (Norw. Lille Ekkerey) (C^ah) is a
small outer island on the border of open sea at the mouth of the fjord
Várjavuotna (Norw. Varangerfjorden), near the northern shore.
Fávle-Ic^c^at and Gádde-Ic^c^át (< PS *-iñc^a:-k) (Muo) is a group of
two relatively large outer islands (cf. fávli 'open sea', gáddi 'shore').
"
Presumably Pre-Germ.(= Pre-Saami) *enk- > ON *ekk-
from Ernout/Meillet, Dictionnaire Étymolgique de la Langue Latine
"
i:nsula, -ae f.: île; ... Dérivés: i:nsula:nus (-neus tardif),
-a:rius, -a:tus, -a:ris, -e:nsis, -o:sus.
Les anciens expliquent i:nsula comme si c'était le féminin d'un adj.
*insulus issu de *en salos "qui est en pleine mer" (cf. se:dulus de
se: dolo:, etc. ), gr. `énalos (-lios): insulae dictae proprie quae
non iunguntur comnunibus parietibus cum uicinis, circumituque publico
aut priuato iunguntur, a similitudine uidelicet earum terrarum quae in
fluminibus ac mari eminent, suntque in salo, P.F.98,31. Mais il peut
n'y avoir là qu'une étymologie populaire. L'indo-européen n'a pas de
nom connu pour "île", et les noms indo-iranien et slave indiquent une
île fluviale. Le gr. nãsos (ion.-att. ne~sos) a l'air d'un mot égéen;
on a peine à ne pas penser à un rapport avec i:nsula qui proviendrait
aussi du même groupe que dor. nãsos, on ne sait par quel
intermédiaire, et la phonétique fait des difficultés. Le rapport,
séduisant, avec irl. inis, gall. ynys "île" n'est pas plus clair. -
Attesté depuis Plaute. Roman, M.L.4475; passé, par le roman, en v.h.a.
insul(e), i:sila.
"
Hm. A priori strange, but it fits too well to be ignored.
Torsten