Origin and history of jersey

1590s, earlier yland (c. 1300), from Old English igland, iegland "an island," from ieg "island" (from Proto-Germanic *awjo "thing on the water," from PIE root *akwa- "water") + land (n.).

The spelling of the first syllable was modified from 16c. by association with similar but unrelated isle. The second syllable was added to distinguish it from homonyms, especially Old English ea "water" (see ea). Similar formation are in Old Frisian eiland, Middle Dutch eyland, German Eiland, Danish öland, etc.

In place names, Old English ieg is often used of "slightly raised dry ground offering settlement sites in areas surrounded by marsh or subject to flooding" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names], as probably in Isle of Ely. Old English had ealand "river-land, watered place, meadow by a river."

As an adjective from 1620s. Island universe "solar system" (1846) translates German Weltinsel (von Humboldt, 1845). Related: Islander.

Channel Island, the name is Viking. The second element of the name is Old Norse ey "island" (compare Jersey); the first element uncertain, traditionally meaning "green," but perhaps rather representing a Viking personal name, such as Grani.

Like neighboring Jersey, its name also was taken as the word for a coarse, close-fitting vest of wool (1839), worn originally by seamen, and in Australia the word supplies many of the usages of jersey in U.S. As a type of cattle bred there, from 1784.