The name Britain originates from the

Common Brittonic Common Brittonic (; ; ), also known as British, Common Brythonic, or Proto-Brittonic, is a Celtic language historically spoken in Britain and Brittany from which evolved the later and modern Brittonic languages. It is a form of Insular Cel ...

term ''*Pritanī'' and is one of the oldest known names for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

, an island off the north-western coast of

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

. The terms Briton and British, similarly derived, refer to some or all of its inhabitants and, to varying extents, those of the smaller islands in the vicinity. "British Isles" is the only ancient name for these islands to survive in general usage.

Etymology

"Britain" comes from , via

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

' and Middle English ', possibly influenced by

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

', probably also from Latin ''Brittania'', ultimately an adaptation of the

name for the island, ''*Pritanī''. The earliest written reference to the British Isles derives from the works of the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia; later Greek writers such as

Diodorus of Sicily Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which survive intact, bet ...

and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

who quote Pytheas' use of variants such as (), "The Britannic and, island, and , "Britannic islands", with ' being a Celtic word that might mean "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk", referring to body decoration (see below). The modern Welsh name for the island is '. This may demonstrate that the original

form had initial P- not B- (which would give **''Brydain'') and -t- not -tt- (else **''Prythain''). This may be explained as containing a stem *''prit-'' (Welsh ',

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

'; <

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

'), meaning "shape, form", combined with an adjectival suffix. This leaves us with *''Pritanī''.Chadwick 1949, pp. 66–80.Ó Cróinín 2005, p. 213Dunbavin 1998, p. 3.

History

Written record

The first known written use of the word was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → and → the digraph , Cyrillic → , Armenian → or L ...

of the original

P-Celtic The Gallo-Brittonic languages, also known as the P-Celtic languages, are a proposed subdivision of the Celtic languages containing the languages of Ancient Gaul (both ''Gallia Celtica, Celtica'' and ''Belgica'') and Celtic Britain, which share ce ...

term. It is believed to have appeared within a periplus (coastal map) written in about 325 BC by the geographer and explorer Pytheas of Massalia, but no copies of this work survive. The earliest existing records of the word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

(c. 60 BC to 30 BC),

Geographica The ''Geographica'' (, ''Geōgraphiká''; or , "Strabo's 17 Books on Geographical Topics") or ''Geography'', is an encyclopedia of geographical knowledge, consisting of 17 'books', written in Greek in the late 1st century BC, or early 1st cen ...

(c. 7 BC to AD 19) and Pliny's

Natural History Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

(AD 77). According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to Britain as ''Bretannikē'', which is treated as a feminine noun.Strabo's ''Geography'' Book I. Chapter IV. Section
Greek text
an
English translation
at the

Perseus Project The Perseus Digital Library, formerly known as the Perseus Project, is a free-access digital library founded by Gregory Crane in 1987 and hosted by the Department of Classical Studies of Tufts University. One of the pioneers of digital libraries, ...

.Strabo's ''Geography'' Book IV. Chapter II. Section
Greek text
an
English translation
at the

.Strabo's ''Geography'' Book IV. Chapter IV. Section
Greek text
an
English translation
at the

. Although technically an adjective (''the Britannic'' or ''British'') it may have been a case of noun ellipsis, a common mechanism in ancient Greek. This term along with other relevant ones, subsequently appeared inter alia in the following works: *Pliny referred to the main island as ''Britannia'', with ''Britanniae'' describing the island group.Pliny the Elder's ''Naturalis Historia'' Book IV. Chapter XL
Latin text
an
English translation
at the

.Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short
A Latin Dictionary, lemma ''Britanni''
II.A at the

. *

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

also used the plural ''Britanniae'' in his ''Carmina''. Gaius Valerius Catullus' '' Carmina'' Poem 29, verse 20
Latin text
an
English translation
at the

. See also Latin text and its English translation side by side at

Wikisource Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...

. Gaius Valerius Catullus' '' Carmina'' Poem 45, verse 22
Latin text
an
English translation
at the

. See also Latin text and its English translation side by side at

. * Avienius used ''insula

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

um'' in his ''Ora Maritima''. * Orosius used the plural ''Britanniae'' to refer to the islands and ''Britanni'' to refer to the people thereof. *Diodorus referred to Great Britain as ''Prettanikē nēsos'' and its inhabitants as ''Prettanoi''. Diodorus Siculus' ''Bibliotheca Historica'' Book V. Chapter XXI. Section
Greek text
at the

.Diodorus Siculus' ''Bibliotheca Historica'' Book V. Chapter XXI. Section
Greek text
at the

. *

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, in his '' Almagest'', used ''Brettania'' and ''Brettanikai nēsoi'' to refer to the island group and the terms ''megale Brettania'' (Great Britain) and ''mikra Brettania'' (little Britain) for the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, respectively. However, in his ''

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

'', he referred to both '' Alwion'' (Great Britain) and '' Iwernia'' (Ireland) as a ''nēsos Bretanikē'', or British island. * Marcian of Heraclea, in his ''Periplus maris exteri'', described the island group as (the Prettanic Isles). Greek text and Latin Translation thereof archived at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. *

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

used the term Ἀλβίων (Albion) to refer to the island, and Ἀλβιώνιοι (Albionioi) to refer to its people.''Ethnika'' 69.16, i.e. Stephanus Byzantinus' ''Ethnika'' (kat'epitomen), lemma *

Pseudo-Aristotle Pseudo-Aristotle is a general cognomen for authors of philosophical or medical treatises who attributed their works to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, or whose work was later attributed to him by others. Such falsely attributed works are known a ...

used ''nēsoi Brettanikai'', ''Albion'' and ''Ierne'' to refer to the island group, Great Britain, and Ireland, respectively. Greek , translation "... There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne; ..."; *

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

, in the 6th century AD, used the terms '' Brittia'' and ''Brettania'' though he considered them to be different islands, the former being located between the latter and Thule. Moreover, according to him on Brittia lived three different nations, the homonymous ''Brittones'' (Britons), the ''Angiloi'' (English) and the ''Phrissones'' (

Frisians The Frisians () are an ethnic group indigenous to the German Bight, coastal regions of the Netherlands, north-western Germany and southern Denmark. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland an ...

). As seen above, the original spelling of the term is disputed. Ancient manuscripts alternated between the use of the ''P-'' and the ''B-'', and many linguists believe Pytheas's original manuscript used ''P-'' (''Prettania'') rather than ''B-''. Although ''B-'' is more common in these manuscripts, many modern authors quote the Greek or Latin with a ''P-'' and attribute the ''B-'' to changes by the Romans in the time of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

; the relevant, attested sometimes later, change of the spelling of the word(s) in Greek, as is also sometimes done in modern Greek, from being written with a double

tau Tau (; uppercase Τ, lowercase τ or \boldsymbol\tau; ) is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the voiceless alveolar plosive, voiceless dental or alveolar plosive . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 300 ...

to being written with a double nu, is likewise also explained by Roman influence, from the aforementioned change in the spelling in Latin. For example,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

Karl Schmidt states that the "name of the island was originally transmitted as Πρεττανία (with Π instead of Β) ... as is confirmed by its etymology". Stephanus, epitomising Markianos and an early lost

recension Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from the Latin ("review, analysis"). In textual criticism (as is the ...

, states

"Καὶ ἄλλοι οὕτως διὰ του π Πρετανίδες νῆσοι, ὡς Μαρκιανὸς καὶ Πτολεμαῖος."

However, the tradition of the

preserved within the stemma of surviving (13th–14th century) manuscripts only preserves " Β" and not " Π" recensions of "Βρεττανικήσ". According to Barry Cunliffe: :It is quite probable that the description of Britain given by the Greek writer Diodorus Siculus in the first century BC derives wholly or largely from Pytheas. What is of particular interest is that he calls the island "Pretannia" (Greek "Prettanikē"), that is "the island of the Pretani, or Priteni". "Pretani" is a Celtic word that probably means "the painted ones" or "the tattooed folk", referring to body decoration – a reminder of Caesar's observations of

woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, ''Isati ...

-painted barbarians. In all probability the word "Pretani" is an ethnonym (the name by which the people knew themselves), but it remains an outside possibility that it was their continental neighbours who described them thus to the Greek explorers.

Roman period

Following

's expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC, ''Brit(t)an(n)ia'' was predominantly used to refer simply to the island of Great Britain. After the Roman conquest under the Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

in AD 43, it came to be used to refer to the Roman province of Britain (later two provinces), which at one stage consisted of part of the island of Great Britain south of

Hadrian's wall Hadrian's Wall (, also known as the ''Roman Wall'', Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Aelium'' in Latin) is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Roman Britain, Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

Medieval

or Anglo-Saxon, the Graeco-Latin term referring to Britain entered in the form of ''Bryttania'', as attested by

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

's translation of Orosius' ''Seven Books of History Against the Pagans''. The

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

name ''

Britannia The image of Britannia () is the national personification of United Kingdom, Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used by the Romans in classical antiquity, the Latin was the name variously appli ...

'' re-entered the language through the

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Britons'' for the inhabitants of Great Britain is derived from the

''bretun'', the term for the people and language of

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, itself derived from Latin and Greek, e.g. the of

. It was introduced into

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

as ' in the late 13th century.

Modern usage

There is much conflation of the terms

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Great Britain, Britain, and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

today, especially among English speakers outside Great Britain and Ireland. In many ways accepted usage allows some of these to overlap, but some common usages are incorrect. The term ''Britain'' is widely used as a common name for the

sovereign state A sovereign state is a State (polity), state that has the highest authority over a territory. It is commonly understood that Sovereignty#Sovereignty and independence, a sovereign state is independent. When referring to a specific polity, the ter ...

of the ''United Kingdom'', or UK for short. The United Kingdom includes three countries on the largest island, which can be called ''the island of Britain'' or ''Great Britain'': these are England,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. However the United Kingdom also includes

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on the neighbouring island of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the remainder of which is not part of the United Kingdom. ''England'' is not synonymous with ''Britain'', ''Great Britain'', or ''United Kingdom''. The classical writer

referred to the larger island as ''great Britain'' (''megale Bretannia'') and to Ireland as ''little Britain'' (''mikra Brettania'') in his work, '' Almagest'' (147–148 AD). In his later work, ''

'' (c. 150 AD), he gave these islands the names Ἀλουίωνος (''Alwiōnos''), Ἰουερνίας (''Iwernias''), and ''Mona'' (the

Isle of Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

), suggesting these may have been native names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing ''Almagest''. The name ''Albion'' appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Great Britain, after which ''Britain'' became the more commonplace name for the island called Great Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, ''Britain'' was used as a historical term only.

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth (; ; ) was a Catholic cleric from Monmouth, Wales, and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur. He is best known for his chronicle '' The History of ...

in his pseudohistorical ''

Historia Regum Britanniae (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a fictitious account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. It chronicles the lives of the List of legendary kings o ...

'' (''c.'' 1136) refers to the island of Great Britain as ''Britannia major'' ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from ''Britannia minor'' ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern

, which had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic migrants from the British Isles. The term ''Great Britain'' was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of

Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". It was used again in 1603, when King James VI and I styled himself "King of Great Britain" on his coinage. The term ''Great Britain'' later served to distinguish the large island of Britain from the French region of Brittany (in French ''Grande-Bretagne'' and ''Bretagne'' respectively). With the

Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the international Treaty of Union agree ...

it became the official name of the new state created by the union of the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...

(which then included Wales) with the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a Anglo-Sc ...

, forming the

Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain, also known as the Kingdom of Great Britain, was a sovereign state in Western Europe from 1707 to the end of 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the Kingd ...

."After the political union of England and Scotland in 1707, the nation's official name became 'Great Britain'", ''The American Pageant, Volume 1'', Cengage Learning (2012) In 1801, the name of the country was changed to ''United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland'', recognising that Ireland had ceased to be a distinct kingdom and, with the

Acts of Union 1800 The Acts of Union 1800 were parallel acts of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland which united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland (previously in personal union) to create the United Kingdom of G ...

, had become incorporated into the union. After Irish independence in the early 20th century, the name was changed to ''United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'', which is still the official name. In contemporary usage, ''Great Britain'', while synonymous with the island of Britain, and capable of being used to refer politically to

and

in combination, is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole. For example, the term ''

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

'' and ''Great Britain'' were used to refer to the United Kingdom's Olympic team in 2012 although this included

. The usage 'GBR' in this context is determined by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(see

List of IOC country codes This is a list of International Olympic Committee (IOC) country codes. Current NOCs There are 206 current NOCs (National Olympic Committees) within the Olympic Movement. The following tables show the currently used code for each NOC and any d ...

) which accords with the international standard

ISO 3166 ISO 3166 is a standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, special areas of geographical interest, and their principal subdivisions (e.g., pro ...

. The internet country code, " .uk" is an anomaly, being the only

Country code top-level domain A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all tw ...

that does not follow ISO 3166.

Notes

References

* *