Sandwich Islands

English

Etymology

Named in 1778 by Captain James Cook in honour of the First Lord of the Admiralty, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.

Proper noun

Sandwich Islands

  1. (obsolete) An early name for the archipelago of nineteen Hawaiian Islands.
    • 1875, Isabella L. Bird, The Hawaiian Archipelago:
      [] I should be sorry to form an unworthy estimate of that of my own circle, though I have several times met with the foregoing confusion, as well as the following and other equally ill-informed questions, one or two of which I reluctantly admit that I might have been guilty of myself before I visited the Pacific: “Whereabouts are the Sandwich Islands? They are not the same as the Fijis, are they?

Translations

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