Saint Helena

Saint Helena , c.248-328?, mother of Constantine I. She became a Christian in 313. According to tradition she found (327) the relic of the True Cross in Jerusalem and identified the location of the Holy Sepulcher. Feast: Aug. 18.

SAINT HELENA, commonly written St Helena. A British dependency in the South Atlantic. Sole language: English. When the Portuguese navigator João da Nova Castella discovered the island on 21 May 1502, he named it after the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, the saint of the Eastern Church whose feast day it was. St Helena was a port of call for ships travelling to the East Indies, may have been occupied by the Dutch in the mid-17c, and was annexed and occupied by the East India Company in 1659. In 1873, nearly half the population was imported slaves. Its remoteness made it the choice for Napoleon's exile, 1815–21. By the later 1830s, the island was under direct British rule. In 1922, Ascension Island was made a dependency, and in 1966 St Helena received a measure of autonomy. Local pronunciation includes: (1) Substitution of /w/ for /v/, so that very is pronounced ‘werry’. (2) Replacement of /θ/ and /ð/ by /f/ and /d/, so that for example bath is pronounced ‘baf’, and the is ‘de’. (3) Use of /ɔɪ/ for /aɪ/, so that the island is ‘de oiland’. Special vocabulary includes: (1) Names for indigenous plants and animals, such as gum wood, hog fish, old-father-live-forever, wire bird (a small plover, the only native land bird). (2) Such usages as jug up to arrange flowers in a vase; mug a jug or pitcher for pouring; make free with yourself to take risks. See TRISTAN DA CUNHA.