Glastonbury is a
Saxon word (
Glastingabiry) meaning "establishment of
Glast"; the resulting misspelling was made possible by a faulty division of the name, so that it was seen as the
English word
glass.
In the time of the
Britons, the area was known as
Ynisgwtrin, or "
Isle of Glass" (since
Glastonbury was an island in the middle of a
marshland.