History Britain (place name)

1 history

1.1 pre-roman

1.1.1 written record


1.2 roman period
1.3 medieval

history
pre-roman
written record

the first known written use of word ancient greek transliteration of original p-celtic term. believed have appeared within periplus geographer , explorer pytheas of massalia, no copies of work survive. earliest existing records of word quotations of periplus later authors, such within strabo s geographica, pliny s natural history , diodorus of sicily s history. according strabo, pytheas referred britain bretannikē, treated feminine noun. although technically adjective (the britannic or british) may have been case of noun ellipsis, common mechanism in ancient greek. term along other relevant ones, subsequently appeared inter alia in following works:

pliny referred main island britannia, britanniae describing island group.
catullus used plural britanniae in carmina.
avienus used insula albionum in ora maritima.
orosius used plural britanniae refer islands , britanni refer people thereof.
diodorus referred great britain prettanikē nēsos , inhabitants prettanoi.
ptolemy, in almagest, used brettania , brettanikai nēsoi refer island group , terms megale brettania (great britain) , mikra brettania (little britain) islands of great britain , ireland, respectively. however, in geography, referred both alwion (great britain) , iwernia (ireland) nēsos bretanikē, or british island.
marcian of heraclea, in periplus maris exteri, described island group αί Πρεττανικαί νήσοι (the prettanic isles).
stephanus of byzantium used term Ἀλβίων (albion) refer island, , Ἀλβιώνιοι (albionioi) refer people.
pseudo-aristotle used nēsoi brettanikai, albion , ierne refer island group, great britain, , ireland, respectively.
procopius, in 6th century ad, used terms brittia , brettania though considered them different islands, former being located between latter , thule. moreover, according him on brittia lived 3 different nations, homonymous brittones (britons), angiloi (english) , phrissones (frisians).

as seen above, original spelling of term disputed. ancient manuscripts alternated between use of p- , b-, , many linguists believe pytheas s original manuscript used p- (prettania) rather b-. although b- more common in these manuscripts, many modern authors quote greek or latin p- , attribute b- changes romans in time of julius caesar; relevant, attested later, change of spelling of word(s) in greek, done in modern greek, being written double tau being written double nu, likewise explained roman influence, aforementioned change in spelling in latin. example, linguist karl schmidt states name of island transmitted Πρεττανία (with Π instead of Β) ... confirmed etymology .

according barry cunliffe:

it quite probable description of britain given greek writer diodorus siculus in first century bc derives wholly or largely pytheas. of particular interest calls island pretannia (greek prettanikē ), island of pretani, or priteni . pretani celtic word means painted ones or tattooed folk , referring body decoration - reminder of caesar s observations of woad-painted barbarians. in probability word pretani ethnonym (the name people knew themselves), remains outside possibility continental neighbours described them greek explorers.

roman period

following julius caesar s expeditions island in 55 , 54 bc, brit(t)an(n)ia predominantly used refer island of great britain. after roman conquest under claudius in ad 43, came used refer roman province of britain, consist of island of great britain south of hadrian s wall.

medieval

in old english or anglo-saxon, graeco-latin term referring britain entered in form of bryttania, attested alfred great s translation of orosius 7 books of history against pagans.

the latin name britannia re-entered language through old french bretaigne. use of britons inhabitants of great britain derived old french bretun, term people , language of brittany, derived latin , greek, e.g. Βρίττωνες of procopius. introduced middle english brutons in late 13th century.