E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Thule (2 syl.).
Called by Drayton Thuly. Pliny, Solnus, and Mela take it for Iceland. Pliny says, “It is an island in the Northern Ocean discovered by Pyth’eas, after sailing six days from the Orcads.” Others, like Camden, consider it to be Shetland, still called Thylens-el (isle of Thyl) by seamen, in which opinion they agree with Mari’nus, and the descriptions of Ptolemy and Tacitus. Bochart says it is a Syrian word, and that the Phœnician merchants who traded to the group called it Gezirat Thul (isles of darkness). Its certain etymology is unknown; it may possibly be the Gothic Tiule, meaning the “most remote land,” and connected with the Greek telos (the end).
1
“Where the Northern Ocean, in vast whirls,
Boils round the naked melancholy isles
Of farthest Thulë.”
Thomson: Autumn.
Ultima Thul. The end of the world; the last extremity. Thule was the most northern point known to the ancient Romans.
2
“Tibi serviat Ultima Thule.”
Virgil: Georgics, i. 30.
“Peshawar cantonment is the Ultima Thule of British India.”—Nineteenth Century, Oct., 1893, p. 533.
nus, and Mela take it for Iceland. Pliny says, “It is an island in the Northern Ocean discovered by Pyth’eas, after sailing six days from the Orcad
s.” Others, like Camden, consider it to be Shetland, still called Thylens-el (isle of Thyl
