<Zembla (in Nova Zembla, the name of an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean: see note) + ‑ansuffix, after FrenchZemblien (1671 in the passage translated in quot. 1674).Compare Zembliann., Zemblianadj.…
<Zembla (in Nova Zembla, the name of an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean: see note) + ‑ansuffix, after FrenchZemblien (1671 in the passage translated in quot. 1674).Compare Zembliann., Zemblianadj.
Notes
The name of Nova Zembla apparently shows a variant (with an epenthetic ‑b‑) of Novaya Zemlya (now the usual form in English), itself < the Russian place name Novaja Zemlja (already in Old Russian) <novyj new (see newadj.) + zemlja land, earth.
The name of the archipelago is attested in English from the 16th cent.; compare:
a1584
This land, said he [sc. Loshak the Russian trader], is called Noua Zembla, that is to say, the New land.
S. Borough in R. Hakluyt, Principall Navigations (1589) ii. 318
Meaning & use
Obsolete.
noun
1674–1794
A native or inhabitant of Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in northern Russia.
1674
We descryed..a Zemblane [French Zemblien] in a Canoe.
translation of P. M. de la Martinière, New Voyage into Northern Countries 122
1759
He has not said a word of the Russians, the Tartars, the Samoiedes, the Zemblans.
Critical Review October 289
1794
Every thing in the appearance of this people [sc. the Esquimaux], denotes them to be the same with the Laplanders, the Zemblans.., and the Tartars.
S. Williams, Natural & Civil History of Vermont viii. 195