Hispaniola
UK /hɪsˌpæniˈəʊlə/ · US /ˌhɪspənˈjoʊlə/ proper noun
- proper noun An island of the Caribbean, divided politically into the independent nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Synonyms
Española Haiti Hayti San Domingo Santo Domingo
Etymology
A borrowing of Peter Martyr's Latin Hispaniola (equivalent to Hispania + -ola), used in his Decades to translate De las Casas's Spanish Española (in a more latinized form), a clipping of la Isla Española (“the Spanish Island”), translating Columbus's Latin Insula Hispania, bestowed upon its discovery in 1492. Doublet of Española.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Hispaniola”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details