Island
Insula Lenur
Insel Wight
Listen to the story
Insula Lenur, the island of Lenur, lies in the sea between Britain and Gaul, and its name is a puzzle. Of the faded lettering only a final r can still be read. An edition of 1598 printed "hic nascitur", "here is born", almost certainly a misreading, while an edition of 1753 gave "lenur", a form no ancient source confirms. The letters might even label the open water rather than the island. It is usually taken for the Isle of Wight, which the geographer Ptolemy called Vectis, though the Channel Islands, the Scilly Isles and the Glénan islands off Brittany have also been proposed.