Wallis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An overseas French territory in the South Pacific, a Polynesian archipelago of islands near Fiji ; a family name carried by several notable figures in engineering and politics
2. A group of volcanic islands in the Pacific that form a French overseas territory ; a surname shared by various well-known people from history and public life
3. A South Pacific island group under French administration, located northeast of Fiji ; a hereditary family name held by a number of prominent historical personalities

Etymology: Most people meet this word as a surname, and its original sense is a surprise. In Old English, a byname for a Welshman or a Breton was taken from Old French "waleis", meaning "foreign". The label was simply "outsider", and a neighbouring people's name became a family name. The place name follows a different route. The Swiss canton is known in German as Wallis, and English borrowed that German form. It names the Rhône valley, and its root is the same Germanic stem that gave English "Welsh".