Peninsula

“1530s, from L. pæninsula, lit. “almost an island,” from pæne “almost” + insula “island.” Earlier translated as demie island.” -Online Etymology Dictionary.

Also easy to see from one of the two french words for peninsula: presqu’île. The other french word for this is péninsule (f.). I love when I find out that what I took to be just a word is nothing more than a mushing together of french or latin words. And when it isn’t obvious. No one gets excited about the word philologist. Or if they do, they probably are probably a puny one.