Etymologically
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Britannicus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [brɪˈtan.nɪ.kʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [briˈtan.ni.kus][1]

Forms

Britannicus (feminine Britannica, neuter Britannicum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The OLD notes the spelling Britt-;[2][3] Georges also gives Brittanicus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin Britannia + -icus.[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in a letter of Cicero, who writes that he is waiting for the Britannicae litterae, the letters from Britain.[2][4] Cicero also has it of the tides of the British sea in his work on the nature of the gods.[2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is used for whatever belongs to Britain: Caesar's British war, the British ocean between the Rhine and the Seine in Pliny the Elder, the British army in Tacitus, a British whale in Juvenal and the British fleet in the jurist Javolenus.[2]

As a man's name it was the surname taken by the son of the emperor Claudius and Messalina, which Tacitus, Suetonius and Juvenal use.[2][3] Georges notes it as the surname of those who defeated British peoples,[3] and inscriptions of AD 192 give it to the emperor Commodus.[6] The feminine as a noun, herba Britannica, named a plant in Pliny the Elder; the OLD leaves it unidentified, while Georges takes it for water dock.[2][3] English Britannic was taken from it in the 1640s.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of letters from Britain.[2][4]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar writes of the British war.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names the British ocean and a plant Britannica.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the army and as the surname of Claudius's son.[2][4]
  • 192 AD – Inscriptions give it as a title of Commodus.[6]
  • 1640s – English borrows Britannic.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to Britain; British.[2][3][1]
  2. (masculine as a noun) Britannicus, the surname of the son of Claudius and Messalina; also a title of emperors and of victors over British peoples.[2][3][6]
  3. (feminine as a noun) A plant named in Pliny the Elder, not identified; perhaps water dock.[2][3]
  • English Britannic

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften