The word britain comes from the word for

23 December 2017

Britain is an ancient name. Where does it come from?

What’s in a name?

Place names are more complex than they first appear. They can be geographical expressions which allow people to orient themselves physically and mentally in their surroundings. They can be mental ‘boxes’ that enable people to think about space and what happens within them or between them. Identity is bound up with place names and who is allowed to name what often shows how power is structured and negotiated between people, communities and identities. Creating place names can be collaborative, they can be a form of domination.

The history of the creation and use of the names of Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England reflect the nuanced meaning of names. This Briefing is part of a series that will explore all these shared and inextricably linked histories, changing terminologies and the still unresolved and politically charged question of what to call all ‘these islands’ together.

The Island of the Painted People?

The earliest recorded place names for the group of islands off the north east European coast are in the works of classical Greek and Roman authors. These islands were on the very far fringes of the known Mediterranean world; where the barbarians’ barbarians lived, a place of mist and mysteries; full of great potential wealth, fantastical creatures and strange peoples. Classical works of geography and history were meant to edify and entertain as much as they were there to inform.

The first report of islands in the far west which can be associated with Britain and Ireland are to be found in Herodotus, the Greek father of history, in the fifth century BCE. Herodotus wrote of islands known as the Cassiterides but of which he had no information beyond their name.^{1 Herodotus, The Histories, Bk3.115. Cassiterides translates as ‘Tin Islands from the Greek word for tin — kassiteros.}

We owe the name of Britain to Pytheas of Massalia, a Greek explorer from present-day Marseille, who travelled to Britain in around 325BCE and recorded the local names of the places he visited. Unfortunately, Pytheas’s writings do not survive but they were widely used as a source by other ancient but desk-bound geographers such as the first-century BCE Greek author Diodorus Siculus who recorded one of the islands names as ‘Pretannike’.^{2 Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, Bk5.21. Greek Prettanike.}In classical Greek and Latin texts, the ‘p’ often turned to a ‘b’ becoming ‘Britannia’.^{3 Julius Caesar is the earliest recorded writer to use the ‘b’ spelling during his own account of his expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BCE. Caesar, The Gallic Wars, Bk4.20-37; Bk5.2-24. These invasions were important propaganda exercises launched with the intention of further boosting Caesar’s prestige in Rome for subduing peoples on the very far edge of the known world.} But the original Greek p-spelling was a rendition of a local Celtic name for either a people living on the island or for the land itself, exactly what is unclear. ‘Pretani’, from which it came from, was a Celtic word that most likely meant ‘the painted people’.^{4 The Celtic languages on these islands are split into two separate but related families: P-Celtic (Welsh, Cornish and Breton) & Q-Celtic (Irish, Scots Gaelic & Manx). Pretani comes from the P-Celtic line and its longevity can be seen in the modern Welsh word for Britain, Prydain.}

Mysterious Albion

‘Albion’ was another name recorded in the classical sources for the island we know as Britain. ‘Albion’ probably predates ‘Pretannia’. Indeed, ‘Albion’ may come from a ‘celticisation’ of a word used for these islands prior to the arrival of Celtic-speaking peoples and most likely derives from the Indo-European root word for hill or hilly, ‘alb-’ ‘albho-‘ for white, probably referring to the white chalk cliffs on Britain’s southern shore.^{5 Christopher A. Snyder, The Britons (Oxford, 2003), pp. 12-13.} Other similarly derived place names include the Alps, Albania, and the Apennines, lending credence to the hill theory though it is not conclusive. Although Albion was often used by classical writers (and others since) as a rhetorical flourish, Britannia won out in general usage probably because after the beginning Roman conquest in 43CE, the province on the island was named ‘Britannia’.

Some examples of classical writers:

• Strabo (1st century BCE): “Brettanike” ^{6 Strabo, Geography, Bk1.4.3, Bk4.2.1; Bk.4.4.1. Brettanike. Strabo had a very low opinion of Pytheas, calling him an “archfalsifier” (pseudistatos).}

• Pliny the Elder (1st century CE): “Britannia insula” ^{7 Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Bk4.102. “Ex adverso huius situs Britannia insula clara Graecis nostrisque monimentis”}

• Marcian of Heraclea (4th century CE): “the Prettanic Islands” ^{8 Marcian of Heraclea, Periplus Maris Exteri, Bk1. Proeemium; Bk1.8, Bk2.Proeemium, Bk2.24, Bk2.27, Bk2.40, Bk2. 41-46. Hai Prettanikai nesoi.}

What made Britain ‘Great’?

The word ‘Great’ becoming attached to ‘Britain’ comes from medieval practice and not the classical authors. This became a common practice in the twelfth century to distinguish the island of Britannia maior (Greater Britain) from Britannia minor (Lesser Britain), the other medieval Britain Brittany.^{9 David N. Dumville, ‘‘Celtic’ visions of England’ in Andrew Galloway (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Culture (Cambridge, 2011), p. 126.} Brittany gained its name from the British migrants who moved there in the post-Roman period.

Brutus of Troy and Britain

The twelfth century was a period of great historical introspection with numerous writers reflecting on the past of Britain and its various peoples’ pasts. The most influential contribution to this debate was Geoffrey of Monmouth, one of the most successful mytho-historians, with his History of the Kings of Britain.^{10 Geoffrey of Monmouth, The history of the kings of Britain: an edition and translation of De Gestis Britonum (Historia Regum Britanniae), M.D. Reeve (ed.) and N. Wright (trans.), (Woodbridge, 2007). Geoffrey of Monmouth distinguished between Britannia Insula or Britannia meaning Britain and Britannia minor, lesser Britain for Brittany, 92.88, 96.235, 97.245} Alongside his famed contribution to what became Arthurian legend, Geoffrey provided a popular origin story for the name ‘Britain’. Geoffrey wrote of a ‘Brutus of Troy’, a grandson of Aeneas, a Trojan hero and ancestor of the Roman people, who came to Albion, slew the giants who lived here and founded a kingdom, which took its name from him, Britain. Although this tale lacked any historical basis, this was the most popularly believed explanation until well into the sixteenth century at least.^{11 Barry Cunliffe, Britain Begins (Oxford, 2013), pp. 8-16.}

From Geographical Expression to Political Reality

The accession of James VI of Scotland to the English and Irish thrones in 1603 created the impetus for widespread use of ‘Great Britain’ as both a geographical expression and as a political entity. England and Scotland remained separate kingdoms but James VI and (now) I decided that at least he could combine the two together in his title, so called himself ‘King of Great Britain’.^{12 James VI & I, ‘By the King. A proclamation concerning the Kings Majesties Stile, of King of Great Britaine, & C. [Westminster 20 October 1604]’ in J.F. Larkin & P.L Hughes (eds.), Stuart Royal Proclamations. Vol. 1, Royal proclamations of King James I, 1603-1625 (Oxford, 1973), no. 45; Jenny Wormald, ‘James VI and I (1566-1625)’, Oxford Dictionary of national biography (Oxford, 2004).} The use of ‘Great Britain’ to refer to the whole island of Britain, was strengthened by the Act of Union (1707), which created a new united ‘Kingdom of Great Britain’.^{13 Article I of the Act of Union (1707)} The ‘Kingdom of Great Britain’ became the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’ after the Act of Union (1801) between ‘Great Britain’ and the ‘Kingdom of Ireland’.^{14 First Article of the Union with Ireland Act (1800)} As with many other states, a term that had enjoyed a largely literary, aspirational and geographic expression, now became a ‘political’ reality. After the Irish Free State’s creation in 1922, the name changed to the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’. This kept the distinction between what was geographically ‘Great Britain’ and ‘Northern Ireland’ but which remained one political union.

The ever-changing meaning of Britain

Britain may be an ancient name but its meaning has changed over time for the inhabitants and newcomers to these islands. This continuous renewal and reinterpretation of the meaning and understanding of the name is a major reason for its survival. The name of Britain has been a resource from which the various peoples have used to make and remake new, diverse and dynamic identities over centuries of lived history. It has survived because it has proved useful. However, this constant reuse of a name has preserved an ancient Celtic dialectal name transliterated by an ancient Greek explorer from the south of France over two millennia ago.

NOTES

Herodotus, The Histories, Bk3.115. Cassiterides translates as ‘Tin Islands from the Greek word for tin — kassiteros.
Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History, Bk5.21. Greek Prettanike.
Julius Caesar is the earliest recorded writer to use the ‘b’ spelling during his own account of his expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BCE. Caesar, The Gallic Wars, Bk4.20-37; Bk5.2-24. These invasions were important propaganda exercises launched with the intention of further boosting Caesar’s prestige in Rome for subduing peoples on the very far edge of the known world.
The Celtic languages on these islands are split into two separate but related families: P-Celtic (Welsh, Cornish and Breton) & Q-Celtic (Irish, Scots Gaelic & Manx). Pretani comes from the P-Celtic line and its longevity can be seen in the modern Welsh word for Britain, Prydain.
Christopher A. Snyder, The Britons (Oxford, 2003), pp. 12-13.
Strabo, Geography, Bk1.4.3, Bk4.2.1; Bk.4.4.1. Brettanike. Strabo had a very low opinion of Pytheas, calling him an “archfalsifier” (pseudistatos).
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Bk4.102. “Ex adverso huius situs Britannia insula clara Graecis nostrisque monimentis”
Marcian of Heraclea, Periplus Maris Exteri, Bk1. Proeemium; Bk1.8, Bk2.Proeemium, Bk2.24, Bk2.27, Bk2.40, Bk2. 41-46. Hai Prettanikai nesoi.
David N. Dumville, ‘‘Celtic’ visions of England’ in Andrew Galloway (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Medieval English Culture (Cambridge, 2011), p. 126.
Geoffrey of Monmouth, The history of the kings of Britain: an edition and translation of De Gestis Britonum (Historia Regum Britanniae), M.D. Reeve (ed.) and N. Wright (trans.), (Woodbridge, 2007). Geoffrey of Monmouth distinguished between Britannia Insula or Britannia meaning Britain and Britannia minor, lesser Britain for Brittany, 92.88, 96.235, 97.245
Barry Cunliffe, Britain Begins (Oxford, 2013), pp. 8-16.
James VI & I, ‘By the King. A proclamation concerning the Kings Majesties Stile, of King of Great Britaine, & C. [Westminster 20 October 1604]’ in J.F. Larkin & P.L Hughes (eds.), Stuart Royal Proclamations. Vol. 1, Royal proclamations of King James I, 1603-1625 (Oxford, 1973), no. 45; Jenny Wormald, ‘James VI and I (1566-1625)’, Oxford Dictionary of national biography (Oxford, 2004).
Article I of the Act of Union (1707)
First Article of the Union with Ireland Act (1800)

Suggested Additional Reading

Linda Colley, Britons: forging the nation (rev. ed. London, 2009).

Linda Colley, Acts of Union and Disunion (London 2014).

Barry Cunliffe, The extraordinary voyage of Pytheas the Greek (London, 2002).

Barry Cunliffe, Britain Begins (Oxford, 2013).

Christopher A. Snyder, The Britons (Oxford, 2003).

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Источник

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The name Britain originates from the Common Brittonic term *Pritanī and is one of the oldest known names for Great Britain, an island off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The terms Briton and British, similarly derived, refer to its inhabitants and, to varying extents, the smaller islands in the vicinity. «British Isles» is the only ancient name for these islands to survive in general usage.

Etymology[edit]

«Britain» comes from Latin: Britannia~Brittania, via Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Breteyne, possibly influenced by Old English Bryten(lond), probably also from Latin Brittania, ultimately an adaptation of the Common Brittonic name for the island, *Pritanī.^[1]^[2]

The earliest written reference to the British Isles derives from the works of the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia; later Greek writers such as Diodorus of Sicily and Strabo who quote Pytheas’ use of variants such as Πρεττανική (Prettanikē), «The Britannic [land, island]», and nēsoi brettaniai, «Britannic islands», with *Pretani being a Celtic word that might mean «the painted ones» or «the tattooed folk», referring to body decoration (see below).^[3]

The modern Welsh name for the island is (Ynys) Prydain. This may demonstrate that the original Common Brittonic form had initial P- not B- (which would give **Brydain) and -t- not -tt- (else **Prythain). This may be explained as containing a stem *prit- (Welsh pryd, Old Irish cruith; < Proto-Celtic *kwrit-), meaning «shape, form», combined with an adjectival suffix. This leaves us with *Pritanī.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

History[edit]

Written record[edit]

The first known written use of the word was an ancient Greek transliteration of the original P-Celtic term. It is believed to have appeared within a periplus written in about 325 BC by the geographer and explorer Pytheas of Massalia, but no copies of this work survive. The earliest existing records of the word are quotations of the periplus by later authors, such as those within Diodorus of Sicily’s history (c. 60 BC to 30 BC), Strabo’s Geographica (c. 7 BC to AD 19) and Pliny’s Natural History (AD 77).^[10] According to Strabo, Pytheas referred to Britain as Bretannikē, which is treated a feminine noun.^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14] Although technically an adjective (the Britannic or British) it may have been a case of noun ellipsis, a common mechanism in ancient Greek. This term along with other relevant ones, subsequently appeared inter alia in the following works:

Pliny referred to the main island as Britannia, with Britanniae describing the island group.^[15]^[16]
Catullus also used the plural Britanniae in his Carmina.^[17]^[18]
Avienius used insula Albionum in his Ora Maritima.^[19]
Orosius used the plural Britanniae to refer to the islands and Britanni to refer to the people thereof.^[20]
Diodorus referred to Great Britain as Prettanikē nēsos and its inhabitants as Prettanoi.^[21]^[22]
Ptolemy, in his Almagest, used Brettania and Brettanikai nēsoi to refer to the island group and the terms megale Brettania (Great Britain) and mikra Brettania (little Britain) for the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, respectively.^[23] However, in his Geography, he referred to both Alwion (Great Britain) and Iwernia (Ireland) as a nēsos Bretanikē, or British island.^[24]
Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the island group as αί Πρεττανικαί νήσοι (the Prettanic Isles).^[25]
Stephanus of Byzantium used the term Ἀλβίων (Albion) to refer to the island, and Ἀλβιώνιοι (Albionioi) to refer to its people.^[26]
Pseudo-Aristotle used nēsoi Brettanikai, Albion and Ierne to refer to the island group, Great Britain, and Ireland, respectively.^[27]
Procopius, in the 6th century AD, used the terms Brittia and Brettania though he considered them to be different islands, the former being located between the latter and Thule. Moreover, according to him on Brittia lived three different nations, the homonymous Brittones (Britons), the Angiloi (English) and the Phrissones (Frisians).^[28]^[29]

As seen above, the original spelling of the term is disputed. Ancient manuscripts alternated between the use of the P- and the B-, and many linguists believe Pytheas’s original manuscript used P- (Prettania) rather than B-. Although B- is more common in these manuscripts, many modern authors quote the Greek or Latin with a P- and attribute the B- to changes by the Romans in the time of Julius Caesar;^[30] the relevant, attested sometimes later, change of the spelling of the word(s) in Greek, as is also sometimes done in modern Greek, from being written with a double tau to being written with a double nu, is likewise also explained by Roman influence, from the aforementioned change in the spelling in Latin.^[31] For example, linguist Karl Schmidt states that the «name of the island was originally transmitted as Πρεττανία (with Π instead of Β) … as is confirmed by its etymology».^[32]

According to Barry Cunliffe:

It is quite probable that the description of Britain given by the Greek writer Diodorus Siculus in the first century BC derives wholly or largely from Pytheas. What is of particular interest is that he calls the island «Pretannia» (Greek «Prettanikē»), that is «the island of the Pretani, or Priteni». «Pretani» is a Celtic word that probably means «the painted ones» or «the tattooed folk», referring to body decoration – a reminder of Caesar’s observations of woad-painted barbarians. In all probability the word «Pretani» is an ethnonym (the name by which the people knew themselves), but it remains an outside possibility that it was their continental neighbours who described them thus to the Greek explorers.^[33]

Roman period[edit]

Following Julius Caesar’s expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC, Brit(t)an(n)ia was predominantly used to refer simply to the island of Great Britain^{[citation needed]}. After the Roman conquest under the Emperor Claudius in AD 43, it came to be used to refer to the Roman province of Britain (later two provinces), which at one stage consisted of part of the island of Great Britain south of Hadrian’s wall.^[34]

Medieval[edit]

In Old English or Anglo-Saxon, the Graeco-Latin term referring to Britain entered in the form of Bryttania, as attested by Alfred the Great’s translation of Orosius’ Seven Books of History Against the Pagans.^[35]

The Latin name Britannia re-entered the language through the Old French Bretaigne. The use of Britons for the inhabitants of Great Britain is derived from the Old French bretun, the term for the people and language of Brittany, itself derived from Latin and Greek, e.g. the Βρίττωνες of Procopius.^[28] It was introduced into Middle English as brutons in the late 13th century.^[36]

Modern usage[edit]

There is much conflation of the terms United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain, and England. In many ways accepted usage allows some of these to overlap, but some common usages are incorrect.

The term Britain is widely used as a common name for the sovereign state of the United Kingdom, or UK for short. The United Kingdom includes three countries on the largest island, which can be called the island of Britain or Great Britain: these are England, Scotland and Wales. However the United Kingdom also includes Northern Ireland on the neighbouring island of Ireland, the remainder of which is not part of the United Kingdom. England is not synonymous with Britain, Great Britain, or United Kingdom.

The classical writer, Ptolemy, referred to the larger island as great Britain (megale Bretannia) and to Ireland as little Britain (mikra Brettania) in his work, Almagest (147–148 AD).^[37] In his later work, Geography (c. 150 AD), he gave these islands the names^[38] Ἀλουίωνος (Alwiōnos), Ἰουερνίας (Iwernias), and Mona (the Isle of Anglesey), suggesting these may have been native names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing Almagest.^[39] The name Albion appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Great Britain, after which Britain became the more commonplace name for the island called Great Britain.^[9]

After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a historical term only. Geoffrey of Monmouth in his pseudohistorical Historia Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) refers to the
island of Great Britain as Britannia major («Greater Britain»), to distinguish it from Britannia minor («Lesser Britain»), the continental region which approximates to modern Brittany, which had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by Celtic migrants from the British Isles.^[40] The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Cecily the daughter of Edward IV of England, and James the son of James III of Scotland, which described it as «this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee». It was used again in 1603, when King James VI and I styled himself «King of Great Britain» on his coinage.^[41]

The term Great Britain later served to distinguish the large island of Britain from the French region of Brittany (in French Grande-Bretagne and Bretagne respectively). With the Acts of Union 1707 it became the official name of the new state created by the union of the Kingdom of England (which then included Wales) with the Kingdom of Scotland, forming the Kingdom of Great Britain.^[42] In 1801, the name of the country was changed to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, recognising that Ireland had ceased to be a distinct kingdom and, with the Acts of Union 1800, had become incorporated into the union. After Irish independence in the early 20th century, the name was changed to United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is still the official name. In contemporary usage therefore, Great Britain, while synonymous with the island of Britain, and capable of being used to refer politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination, is sometimes used as a loose synonym for the United Kingdom as a whole. For example, the term Team GB and Great Britain were used to refer to the United Kingdom’s Olympic team in 2012 although this included Northern Ireland. The usage ‘GBR’ in this context is determined by the International Olympic Committee (see List of IOC country codes) which accords with the international standard ISO 3166. The internet country code, «.uk» is an anomaly, being the only Country code top-level domain that does not follow ISO 3166.

Notes[edit]

^ «Britain». Online Etymology Dictionary.
^ Chadwick, Hector Munro, Early Scotland: The Picts, the Scots and the Welsh of Southern Scotland, Cambridge University Press, 1949 (2013 reprint), p. 68
^ Cunliffe, Barry (2012). Britain Begins. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 4.
^ Chadwick 1949, pp. 66–80.
^ Maier 1997, p. 230.
^ Ó Cróinín 2005, p. 213
^ Dunbavin 1998, p. 3.
^ Oman, Charles (1910), «England Before the Norman Conquest», in Oman, Charles; Chadwick, William (eds.), A History of England, vol. I, New York; London: GP Putnam’s Sons; Methuen & Co, pp. 15–16, The corresponding form used by the Brythonic ‘P Celts’ would be Priten … Since therefore he visited the Pretanic and not the Kuertanic Isle, he must have heard its name, when he visited its southern shores, from Brythonic and not from Goidelic inhabitants.
^ ^a ^b Snyder, Christopher A. (2003). The Britons. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-22260-X.
^ Book I.4.2–4, Book II.3.5, Book III.2.11 and 4.4, Book IV.2.1, Book IV.4.1, Book IV.5.5, Book VII.3.1
^ Βρεττανική. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
^ Strabo’s Geography Book I. Chapter IV. Section 2 Greek text and English translation at the Perseus Project.
^ Strabo’s Geography Book IV. Chapter II. Section 1 Greek text and English translation at the Perseus Project.
^ Strabo’s Geography Book IV. Chapter IV. Section 1 Greek text and English translation at the Perseus Project.
^ Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia Book IV. Chapter XLI
Latin text and
English translation
at the Perseus Project.
^ Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, lemma Britanni II.A at the Perseus Project.
^ Gaius Valerius Catullus’ Carmina Poem 29, verse 20,
Latin text and
English translation
at the Perseus Project. See also Latin text and its English translation side by side at Wikisource.
^ Gaius Valerius Catullus’ Carmina Poem 45, verse 22, Latin text and
English translation
at the Perseus Project. See also Latin text and its English translation side by side at Wikisource.
^ Avienius’ Ora Maritima, verses 111–112, i.e. eamque late gens Hiernorum colit; propinqua rursus insula Albionum patet.
^ Orosius, Histories against the Pagans, VII. 40.4 Latin text at attalus.org.
^
Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheca Historica Book V. Chapter XXI. Section 1
Greek text at the Perseus Project.
^ Diodorus Siculus’ Bibliotheca Historica Book V. Chapter XXI. Section 2
Greek text at the Perseus Project.
^ Claudius Ptolemy (1898). «Ἕκθεσις τῶν κατὰ παράλληλον ἰδιωμάτων: κβ’, κε’«. In Heiberg, J.L. (ed.). Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia (PDF). Vol. 1 Syntaxis Mathematica. Leipzig: in aedibus B.G.Teubneri. pp. 112–113.
^ Claudius Ptolemy (1843). «index of book II». In Nobbe, Carolus Fridericus Augustus (ed.). Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia (PDF). Vol. 1. Leipzig: sumptibus et typis Caroli Tauchnitii. p. 59.
^ Marcianus Heracleensis; Müller, Karl Otfried; et al. (1855). «Periplus Maris Exteri, Liber Prior, Prooemium». In Firmin Didot, Ambrosio (ed.). Geographi Graeci Minores. Vol. 1. Paris. pp. 516–517. Greek text and Latin Translation thereof archived at the Internet Archive.
^ Ethnika 69.16, i.e. Stephanus Byzantinus’ Ethnika (kat’epitomen), lemma Ἀλβίων Meineke, Augustus, ed. (1849). Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorvm quae svpersvnt. Vol. 1. Berlin: Impensis G. Reimeri. p. 69.
^ Greek «… ἐν τούτῳ γε μὴν νῆσοι μέγιστοι τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι δύο, Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Ἀλβίων καὶ Ἰέρνη, …», transliteration «… en toutoi ge men nesoi megistoi tynchanousin ousai dyo, Brettanikai legomenai, Albion kai Ierne, …», translation «… There are two very large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne; …»; Aristotle (1955). «On the Cosmos». On Sophistical Refutations. On Coming-to-be and Passing Away. On the Cosmos. D. J. Furley (trans.). William Heinemann LTD, Harvard University Press. 393b pp. 360–361 – via Internet Archive.
^ ^a ^b Procopius (1833). «De Bello Gotthico, IV, 20». In Dindorfius, Guilielmus; Niebuhrius, B.G. (eds.). Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Vol. Pars II Volumen II (Impensis Ed. Weberis ed.). Bonnae. pp. 559–580.
^ Smith, William, ed. (1854). «BRITANNICAE INSULAE or BRITANNIA». Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, illustrated by numerous engravings on wood. London: Walton and Maberly; John Murray. pp. 559–560. Available online at the Perseus Project.
^ Rhys, John (July–October 1891). «Certain National Names of the Aborigines of the British Isles: Sixth Rhind Lecture». The Scottish Review. XVIII: 120–143.
^ lemma Βρετανία; Babiniotis, Georgios. Dictionary of Modern Greek. Athens: Lexicology Centre.
^ Schmidt 1993, p. 68
^ Cunliffe, Barry (2012). Britain Begins. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-19-967945-4.
^ Snyder, Christopher A. (2003). The Britons. Blackwell Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 0-631-22260-X.
^ Sedgefield, Walter John (1928). An Anglo-Saxon Verse-Book. Manchester University Press. p. 292.
^ OED, s.v. «Briton».
^ Claudius Ptolemy (1898). «Ἕκθεσις τῶν κατὰ παράλληλον ἰδιωμάτων: κβ’,κε’«. In Heiberg, J.L. (ed.). Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia (PDF). Vol. 1 Syntaxis Mathematica. Leipzig: in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. pp. 112–113.
^ Claudius Ptolemy (1843). «Book II, Prooemium and chapter β’, paragraph 12». In Nobbe, Carolus Fridericus Augustus (ed.). Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia (PDF). Vol. 1. Leipzig: sumptibus et typis Caroli Tauchnitii. pp. 59, 67.
^ Freeman, Philip (2001). Ireland and the classical world. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 0-292-72518-3.
^ «Is Great Britain really a ‘small island’?». BBC News. 14 September 2013.
^ Jack, Sybil (2004). «‘A Pattern for a King’s Inauguration’: The Coronation of James I in England» (PDF). Parergon. 21 (2): 67–91. doi:10.1353/pgn.2004.0068. S2CID 144654775.
^ «After the political union of England and Scotland in 1707, the nation’s official name became ‘Great Britain'», The American Pageant, Volume 1, Cengage Learning (2012)

References[edit]

Fife, James (1993). «Introduction». In Ball, Martin J; Fife, James (eds.). The Celtic Languages. Routledge Language Family Descriptions. Routledge. pp. 3–25.
Schmidt, Karl Horst (1993), «Insular Celtic: P and Q Celtic», in Ball, Martin J; Fife, James (eds.), The Celtic Languages, Routledge Language Family Descriptions, Routledge, pp. 64–99

Look up Britain in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

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(90°F) in January
are the wettest. Thanks

summer, or falls below -10°C to the rain, Britain
has a richly

(14°F)
in winter. fertile countryside which is

Summers are generally cool,   famous for its deep
green colour,
but due to global warming they   Since the 1950s, most British
are starting to get drier and        cities
have introduced clean air
hotter. Newspapers during a hot zones. Factories and houses
spell talk of ‘heatwaves’ and an   cannot burn coal and must use
‘Indian summer’ (dry, hot           smokeless
fuel. The dirt caused
weather in September or           by
smoke used to cause terrible
October). Hot weather causes    fogs, particularly in London,
terrible congestion on the roads Londoners used to call their fogs
as Britons rush to the coastal     ‘London Particulars’ or ‘pea-
resorts,                                      soupers’ (as thick as pea soup)

Winters are generally mild, and you could not
see your hand

with the most frequent and in front of
you. Such fogs are

prolonged snowfalls in the now a thing of
the past, but you

Scottish Highlands, where it is can still see them in
old films

possible to go skiing. If it does where they add
mystery and

snow heavily in other parts of atmosphere to
murder stories

Britain, the country often comes and thrillers!
to a standstill. Trains, buses and

My Heart’s in the Highlands

Robert Burns

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here; My
heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing ^l the deer²A-chasing
the wild ³ deer and foll’wing the roe ⁴; My heart’s in the
Highlands wherever I go.

Farewell⁵ to the Highlands,
farewell to the North,

The birthplace of valour⁶, the
country of worth⁷;

Wherever I wander ⁸, wherever I
rove ⁹;

The hills of the Highlands
forever I love. Farewell to the mountains high covered with snow; Farewell to
the straths ¹⁰ and green valleys below; Farewell to the
forests and wild-hanging woods; Farewell to the torrents ^u and loud
pouring ¹² floods ¹³.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not
here;

My heart’s in the Highlands a-chasing the
deer,

A-chasing the wild deer and foll’wing the roe;

My heart’s in the Highlands wherever I go.

¹ a-chasing = chasing — преследуя; ² deer Idia]
— олень; ³ wild fwaild] — дикий; ⁴ roe frou] — косуля; ⁵ farewell [fca’wel]
— прощай(те)!; ⁶ valour I’vaelo] — доблесть;⁷ worth [w9:9] — достоинство; ⁸ wander [‘wonda] — бродить; ⁹ rove [rouv] — скитаться; ¹⁰ strath [straeB] — широкая долина с рекой; «torrent
[‘torant)— стремительный поток; ¹² pour [рэ:1—литься; ¹³ flood [fUd] —поток.

The climate
of Great Britain is mild and temperate due to the influ-. ence of the Gulf Stream. That means
that it is never too hot or too cold. Snow is a regular feature of the higher
areas only. Occasionally, in lower-lying
parts winter can be without snow at all.

Usually the temperature is between 5°C
below zero and 23°C above zero.
The driest period is from March to June and the wettest months are from October to January. It seldom
snows heavily in winter, frost is rare. January and February are usually the coldest months, July and August are the warmest ones. Sometimes
the wind brings whirlwinds or hurricanes.
Droughts are rare.

The lack of extremes is the reason why, on the few occasions when it gets very hot or very frosty, the
country seems to be totally unprepared for it. A bit of snow and a few days of frost and the
trains stop working and
the roads are blocked. If the temperature goes above 27°C,
people behave as if they
were in Sahara and the temperature makes front-page headlines. But these things happen so
rarely that it is not worth organizing life
to be ready for them.

The bad reputation of Britain’s climate is due to its
changeability. There is
a saying that Britain doesn’t have a climate, it only has weather. But English weather is never the same
two days running. One day it rains, the next day it may be sunny and then it may be cold again. It
may not rain very much
altogether, but you can never be sure of a dry day. There can be cool days in
July and some quite warm days in January.

So, we may say that the British climate has three main
features: it is mild,
humid, and changeable. This humid and mild climate is good for plants and flowers. That’s why Great Britain is such a
green country, with long rich grass for the
cattle and sheep, and beautiful lawns in the gardens.