Britannia

Forms

Britannia f (genitive Britanniae); first declension^[1] The OLD records the spellings Brittannia (Cicero and inscriptions), Brittania (an inscription of AD 127), Britania and Bret(annia).^[2]

Etymology

Wiktionary gives two routes: the name came into Latin straight from the language of the Britons, or it is from Ancient Greek Βρεττανία (Brettanía), the Greek name, with Πρεττανία (Prettanía) in Diodorus.^[1] Pytheas had earlier called the whole group of islands Πρεττανική (Prettanikḗ) or Βρεττανίαι (Brettaníai).^[1] Köbler and Etymonline derive it from the people's name, Latin Britannī (“the Britons”).^[3][4]

The Greek name goes back to a Celtic name of the people, reconstructed as Proto-Brythonic *Pritani, perhaps from Proto-Celtic *Kʷritanī, the source also of Welsh Prydyn (“the Picts”) and Middle Irish Cruithne (“the Picts”).^[1] Wiktionary takes that further, tentatively, to Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Catullus has it, among the first; he uses the plural Britanniae as well as the singular.^[5][3] Cicero names it in his work on the nature of the gods, and in a letter he asks his brother only to give him Britain, so that he may paint it in his brother's colours but with his own brush, meaning Caesar's deeds there.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is the island of Great Britain, England, Wales and Scotland together, which Caesar and Tacitus describe;^[2][5] the plural Britanniae meant the British Isles, and Apuleius counts two of them, Albion and Hibernia.^[2][5] It was also the name of the Roman province.^[1]

In Medieval Latin it could also mean Brittany and Wales.^[1] Stelten glosses it as England.^[6] English Britain came from it through Old French Bretaigne about 1300, and the Latin form itself lives on in English as the name of the female figure who stands for the country on coins.^[4]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses the singular and the plural.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero names it.^[5][2][3]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar describes the island in the Gallic War.^[5][3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses the plural for the British Isles.^[2][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus describes it in the Agricola.^[5][3]
• 127 AD – An inscription spells it Brittania.^[2]
• c. 1300 – English has Breteyne, from Old French, from the Latin name.^[4]

Meanings

Proper noun

1. Britain, the island of Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland).^[2][5][1]
2. (plural) The British Isles.^[2][5]
3. The Roman province of Britannia.^[1]
4. (Medieval Latin) Brittany.^[1]
5. (Medieval Latin) Wales.^[1]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) England.^[6]

Related words

• Britannicus
• English Britain
• English Britannia
• English Brittany

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson