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Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

1 4.5
A group of islands in the North Atlantic that govern themselves but belong to Denmark
  • proper noun
: Islas Feroe
  • Travelers often visit the Faroe Islands to experience their unique culture and traditions.

Examples

  • On the other hand, in the Faroe Islands, people eat whale blubber, which contains high levels of mercury—over three parts per million.

    Blog text (7)
  • Production expanded into new countries, including Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and the Faroe Islands.

    Academic text (2003)
  • There are substantial differences in the reported anomalies for areas like the Black Sea, Faroe Islands, and north of upper Norway.

    Blog text (15)
  • The Faroe Islands, Denmark

    Blog text (15)
  • Harvey Clewell from the ENVIRON Health Sciences Institute, Ruston, Louisiana, reviewed the epidemiologic studies from the Seychelles and Faroe Islands.

    Blog text (7)
  • The evidence of an increased risk of attention deficit reported here is consistent with findings from neuropsychological assessments of children in the Faroe Islands and findings from an event-related potential (ERP) study we conducted on a subsample of the children in the current study.

    Academic text (2012)
  • Grandjean and co-authors (2001) concluded that no evidence exists of a PCB-exposure-associated decrease in birth weight among their study group of singletons born to 182 women from the Faroe Islands.

    Academic text (2010)
  • The Faroe Islands are known for their stunning landscapes and rich birdlife.

  • The fishing industry is a significant part of the economy in the Faroe Islands.

Synonyms

Faeroe Islands
vsFaroe Islands
1 3.7

A group of islands in the North Atlantic that govern themselves and belong to Denmark

is the official modern spelling used in formal contexts
Faroes
vsFaroe Islands
1 6.3

A group of islands in the North Atlantic that govern themselves and belong to Denmark

is the full formal name used in official contexts

Surface Forms

Morphology

Faroe + island

Although 'Faroe' is a proper name with no independent lexical meaning, the head noun 'Islands' clearly denotes a group of islands, so a learner who knows 'island' and recognizes 'Faroe' as a place-name can infer the expression refers to a set of islands. The construction 'PLACE Islands' is cross-linguistically common and follows a transparent compositional pattern.

Etymology

Faroe Islands may come from old Norse words meaning sheep and islands because early settlers kept many sheep on the islands. So the name points to islands where sheep were important, which helps explain why we still call that group of islands the Faroe Islands.