cts where a
series of rivers has happened to isolate them being known as isles. The
Isles of Athelney, Axholme, Purbeck, Thanet, are familiar instances.
Perhaps the town is more likely to take its name from the district than
the district from the town. It will be seen that in none of the examples
just given is the name derived from a town. We have the authority of
Bede for the statement that Ely (_Elge_) was a region containing about
six hundred families, like an island (_in similitudinem insulae_), and
surrounded by marshes or waters.

When told that Ely means the "Island of Eels," many persons suppose this
to be a fanciful etymology, and smile at the idea; but the best
authorities are agreed that this is the true derivation of the name.[1]
A suggestion that the willow-trees, so abundant in the region, gave the
name (Celtic, _Helyg_) has met with some support. A third suggestion,
that the word comes from the Greek for a "marsh," hardly deserves
mention. The Saxon word for "eel" was apparently pronounced exactly as
the modern word. Bede gives this etymology: "A copia anguillarum, quae in
iisdem paludibus capiuntur, nomen accepit." William of Malmesbury, in
his "Gesta Pontificum," 1125, takes the same view. The "Liber Eliensis,"
of about the same date, also adopts it. Milton may not be regarded as a
great authority upon such a question; he writes, however, as considering
the matter settled. In his Latin poem on the death of Bishop Felton, of
Ely, who died in 1626, he says that Fame, with her hundred tongues, ever
a true messenger of evil and disaster, has spread the report of the
bishop's death:

"Cessisse morti, et ferreis sororibus,
Te, generis humani decus,
Qui rex sacrorum fuisti in insula
Quae nomen Anguillae tenet."

That Ely should mean "Isle of Eels," and that the expression Isle of
Ely is consequently redundant, is no argument against this view. The
Isle of Athelney, beyond all question, means the Isle of the AEthelings'
Isle. Compare also a remarkable instance of redundancy in the name of
the Isle of Axholme. This name, says Canon Taylor, "shows that it has
been an island during the time of the Celts, Saxons, Danes, and English.
The first syllable, _Ax_, is the Celtic word for the water by which it
was surrounded. The Anglo-Saxons added their word for island to the
Celtic name, and called it Axey. A neighbouring village still goes by
the name of Haxey. The Danes added _holm_--the Danish word for