Where the name Britain come from?

Question

Can you please give me the relevant story and/ or the etymology?

Answer 1

Some 3,000 years ago, the descendant of Aeneas, Brutus got the advice and direction by the Oracle of Artemis of Melita (Malta) to make the New Troy. Following the directions, he founded the city which is now known as London! The island took His name: Brutus -> Bruttania -> Britannia -> Britain!

Answer 2

Christians answer is right as far as I know. The Btitish queen who fought the Romans was called Boudicca, often known as Boadicea, but the Julius Caesar already referred to Britannia long before she was born.

Bretagne in France is so called because the area was settled by Britons who left England at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, about 450-600 AD, in an early example of ethnic cleansing, though the exact history is not very clear. To distinguish the two Bretagnes, one can say La Petite Bretagne (continental) and La Grande Bretagne (insular). I believe this is the origin of the term Great Britain, rather than nationalistic hype, although nationalism is probably why we've kept it in Britain.

Answer 3

The etymology of the name Britain is thought to derive from a Celtic word, Pritani, "painted people/men", a reference to the island's inhabitants' use of body paint and tattoos. If this is true, there is an interesting parallel with the name Pict, connected with a Latin word of the same meaning. The modern Welsh name for Britain and the Picts is Prydain. The Goidelic form was Cruithin, showing that the Common Celtic singular form was *qruitanos. The root is presumably that of modern Welsh pryd "shape, form" and Irish cruth.

In 325 BC the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia visited a group of islands which he called Prettaniké, the principal ones being Albionon (Albion) and Ierne (Erin). The records of this visit date from much more recent times, so there is room for these details to be disputed, but it does seem to attest pre-Roman use of the name by Celtic-speaking inhabitants of the islands.

In keeping with the mediaeval penchant for etymologising country names in terms of eponymous heroes, British historians of the late mediaeval and early modern periods charted the history of the nation from Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas, a hero of the Trojan war, who founded Britain just as Aeneas' descendant Romulus founded Rome, Frankus France, and so forth. The life of Brutus, anglicised as Brute, was recorded in the literary tradition of the Prose Brute. This was accepted as the etymology of Britain well into modern times.

Answer 4

I believe the name came from originally Britons: the British warrior queen. The land was called after her when the romans fought with her along with others of the native land. I could be wrong.

Answer 5

the early settlers of the island were conquered by William the Conqueror. He was from Normandy. When he conquered more french arrived from Brittany, and from there came Britain

Answer 6

Latin. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia

Answer 7

from the french area Bretagne...

i think the britons came from there.... then they mixed with others, like the welsh, who were alwayz there, the saxons- from germany- etc and became the UK we know now

Answer 8

Check out this link , it will give you all the info you need

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom