i've a lot of these translations myself already i'm also aware of the etymology of isle and island which predates isle by centuries but thanks for the pointer at least we're looking in the same areas and i don't speak greek either i've restored your reference but for now i've left in the dubious tag on the subject of aristotle's de mundo there are two points that should be made the first is that these texts are acknowledged to have not been written by aristotle but are often attributed to him the second is that translations are difficult and often there's a thin line between literal translations becoming unreadable to a modern reader and interpretations that help with understanding the original texts there's many introductions to aristotle that make this point aristotle in outline by timothy a robinson or aristotle by christopher john shields make similar points as does a new aristotle reader by aristotle j l ackrill the clarendon translations are often cited as being a set of references translations translates the passage as in this sea are situated two very large islands the so called british isles albion and lerne which are greater than any which we have yet mentioned and lie beyond the land of the celts other translations are more literal for example early editions of encyclopaedia britannica state the following the passage is in the de mundo c beyond the pillars of hercules straits of gibraltar the ocean flows round the earth and in it are two very large islands called british bperavikal acyo ievcu albion and ierne lying beyond the keltoi a similar translation is attributed to the general history of the celts by rev neil macnish ll d in