Britain

This article deals with the history of the word Britain. For clarification of terminology and an overview of articles about Britain and Ireland see British Isles (terminology).

Britain and Brittany

The original reference seems to have been to the territory in which the Brythonic languages were spoken, which more or less coincided with the Roman province of Britannia, an area equivalent to modern England, Wales and southern Scotland. In the Early Middle Ages speakers of a Brythonic language which later evolved into Breton migrated from Cornwall to Armorica, Western France, possibly because of pressure from Saxon invasions. This is why different forms of the same name apply to insular Britain and continental Brittany. In French the similarity is even more obvious: Bretagne and Grande Bretagne.

Related Topics:
Brythonic languages - Breton - Armorica - French

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Geoffrey of Monmouth used the names Britannia minor to refer to the Armorican region and Britannia major for the island. The element great in the term Great Britain thus simply means large, to make the distinction from Brittany.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~