Prydain (, ;

Middle Welsh Middle Welsh ( cy, Cymraeg Canol, wlm, Kymraec) is the label attached to the Welsh language of the 12th to 15th centuries, of which much more remains than for any earlier period. This form of Welsh developed directly from Old Welsh ( cy, Hen ...

: ''Prydein'') is the modern

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

name for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Medieval

Geiriadur y Bardd - Cyfrinach y Beirdd 000

''Prydain'' is the medieval Welsh term for the island of Britain (the name

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 ...

was not used by the Welsh). More specifically, Prydain may refer to the Brittonic parts of the island; that is, the parts south of

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

. This distinction appears to derive from Roman times, when the island was divided into

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

to the south and the land of the

Caledonians The Caledonians (; la, Caledones or '; grc-gre, Καληδῶνες, ''Kalēdōnes'') or the Caledonian Confederacy were a Brittonic-speaking ( Celtic) tribal confederacy in what is now Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras. The Gr ...

to the North. The peoples north of the Roman borders eventually came to be known as the

Picts The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...

(Welsh: ''Brithwyr''); the Welsh term for Pictland was ''Prydyn'', which caused some confusion in the texts with ''Prydain''. In Middle Welsh texts, the related term ''Ynys Prydein'' (Island of Britain), or ''Ynys Brydein'', can also refer to the island (''ynys'') itself but more often is a name for the Brittonic territories south of Caledonia. It is in this context that the name of the collection of traditional material arranged in triads known as '' Trioedd Ynys Prydein'' should be understood. In modern Welsh ''ynys'' means 'island', but in Middle Welsh it can also mean 'land' or 'realm' (cf.

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

''insula''). There are numerous other instances of the term ''Prydain'' in medieval Welsh texts. One of the best known is found in the title of the 10th-century vaticinatory poem '' Armes Prydein'' ('The Prophecy of Britain').

In popular culture

Prydain is also used by Lloyd Alexander as the name for the realm in which his

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

book series ''

The Chronicles of Prydain ''The Chronicles of Prydain'' is a pentalogy of children's high fantasy Bildungsroman novels written by American author Lloyd Alexander and published by Henry Holt and Company. The series includes: ''The Book of Three'' (1964), ''The Black Cauld ...

'' takes place.McNary, Dave
"'Chronicles of Prydain' Movie in the Works at Disney (EXCLUSIVE)"
'' Variety'', 17 March 2016. Retrieved on 30 April 2017.

References

History of Wales Welsh mythology Medieval Wales Terminology of the British Isles {{Wales-hist-stub

Medieval

In popular culture

See also

References