▪ I. Britain, n.1
(ˈbrɪt(ə)n)
Forms: 3–5 Bretayne, Breteyn(e, 4–5 Brutayne, 5 Bretaingne, 5–6 Brytayne, 6 Britan, Brytayn, Britayn(e, Briteigne; Sc. Bretane, Bertane, Bartane; 6–7 Brittaine, Britaine, 6– Britain.
[ME. Bretayne, -eyne, a. OF. Bretaigne:—L. Brittannia or Brittānia, the island of Britain. (Lat. Britannia would have given F. Bri-, Breaigne.) The OE. name was Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, pointing back to a WGer. *Brituna; also, Breoton-lond, Breten-lond. OCeltic had apparently no name for the island as distinct from the people. (With 16th c. Sc. Bertane, Bartane, cf. Dumbarton.)]
1. a. The proper name of the whole island containing England, Wales, and Scotland, with their dependencies; more fully called Great Britain; now also used for the British state or empire as a whole.
After the OE. period, Britain was used only as a historical term, until about the time of Henry VIII and Edward VI, when it came again into practical politics in connexion with the efforts made to unite England and Scotland; in 1604 James I was proclaimed ‘King of Great Britain’; and this name was adopted for the United Kingdom, at the Union in 1707. After that event, South Britain and North Britain are frequent in Acts of Parl. for England and Scotland respectively: the latter is still in occasional (chiefly postal) use. (So West Britain, humorously or polemically for ‘Ireland’.) Greater Britain is a modern rhetorical phrase for ‘Great Britain and the colonies’, ‘the British Empire’, brought into vogue in 1868.
| a 855 O.E. Chron. Introd., Gaius Iulius se Casere ærest Romana Breten-lond ᵹesohte. c 890 K. ælfred Bæda i. i, Breoton is ealond. |
| 1297 R. Glouc. 22 And aftur Brut ys owne nome he clepede hit Breteyne. 82 Bretayne. a 1375 Joseph Arim. (Vernon MS.) 232 Þe Auenturus of Brutayne. c 1428 Arthur 265 Maximian kyng of Bretaingne Conquered al France and Almayne. c 1500 Lyfe Jos. Armathy (W. de W.) lf. 4 Ioseph of Aramathia..came in to grete Brytayne. c 1505 Dunbar ‘Schir for Ȝour Grace’ 11 Fairest and best In Bartane. c 1515 Prophecy of Bertlington, The French wife shal beare the Sonne Shal weild al Bretane to the sea. 1542 Hen. VIII Declar. Scots B iv b, Brutus of whom the realme than callyd Brytayn toke fyrst that name. 1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes H vj, Y⊇ names of both subiectes & realmes ceassing, & to be changed into y⊇ name of Britain & Britons, as it was at first, & yet stil ought to be. 1548 N. Bodrugan Epitome A v b, England the only supreme seat of thempire of greate Briteigne. 1604 Procl. Jas. I, 24 Oct., King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. 1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. vii. 69 His Majesty of great Britaine. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Warrs 779 King James..obliterating the names of Scots and English, would have both to be united and grow up into one Kingdome..to be called Britain. 1667 Dryden Ann. Mirab. Ded., To the Metropolis of Great Britain, the most renowned and late flourishing city of London. 1707 Act of Union xi. §1 That the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland shall..be united into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. 1710 Act 9 Anne vi. §4 To export and transport from Great Britain into Ireland. 1718 Act 5 Geo. I, xi. §16 The importation of Tar and Pitch from North-Britain into any part of South-Britain. 1729 Act 2 Geo. II, xxxv. §12 In several Parts of North Britain commonly called Scotland. Ibid. Brought..to that part of Great Britain called England. 1740 Thomson ‘Rule Britannia’, When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main. c 1800 Dibdin ‘I sailed from the Downs’, So adieu to the white cliffs of Britain. 1832 Act 2 & 3 Will. IV, lxxv. §1 In that part of the United Kingdom called Great Britain, and..that part of the United Kingdom called Ireland. 1868 C. W. Dilke (title) Greater Britain: Travels 1866–67. |
b. pl. with reference to the several dominions and dependencies of Great Britain; cf. Britt. (Omn.) (= of (all) the Britains) in the legend on coins.
| 1897 Earl of Rosebery in Daily News 5 July 4/5 ‘Regina Britanniarum’—the Queen of the Britains... She is sovereign, not of one or two, but of numberless Britains, all self-supporting. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 2/2 Lord Rosebery has succeeded with his cry of ‘All the Britains’, as the three letters ‘Omn’ on the new coins are to testify... Our King henceforth is to be King of All the Britains. |
† 2. The duchy of Brittany or Bretagne in France; also called Little Britain, Britain the less. Obs.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 36 Burgoyne and Brabane and Bretayne the lesse. c 1530 Ld. Berners (title) Arthur of lytell Brytayne. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 113 Out of places in Britaine came the families of Saint Aubin, Morley, etc. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, Wks. (1860) 339 Re-annexing of the duchy of Britain to the crown of France..by marriage with the daughter of Britain. |
▪ II. † Britain, n.2 and a. Obs.
Forms: 6 Brytane, -aine, Brittayne, 6–7 Britaine, 7 Brittan, Brittain(e, 6–8 Britan, Britain.
[ad. L. Brit(t)ann-us, Brittān-us, Briton, British. (The L. Brit(t)anni or Brittāni appears to correspond to the Gr. βρεττανοί, and was perh. adopted from the Greeks of Massilia. The nearest Celtic form is the Irish pl. Bretain, genitive Bretan, Brettan, which may repr. an OCeltic Bret(t)an-i pl., distinct from Britton-es, whence Briton, q.v.)]
A. n.
1. A Briton (i.e. an ancient Briton).
| 1547 J. Harrison Exhort. Scottes C iv b, Yet wil I not affirme that Scottes be mere Britaynes, or Englishe men mere Britaynes. 1570 Levins Manip. 19 A Brytane, Britanus. Ibid. 200 Brittayne. 1579 Fulke Confut. Sanders 561 As Ninnius a Britaine doeth testifie. 1605 Camden Rem. (1637) 9 The Britaines..The Britains, the most ancient people of this Isle. Ibid. 40 The Brittans. Ibid. 54 The Britans. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. iv. 28 Heere comes the Britaine. 1702 Echard Eccl. Hist. (1710) 549 The northern Britains and Caledonians. |
2. A native of Bretagne in France; a Breton.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. v. (ed. 7) 567 Called new France, because the Brittans which are Frenchmen did first discover it. a 1618 Raleigh Invent. Shipping 9 The French Brittains who were then esteemed the best Brittaine Sea men. |
B. adj.
1. Ancient British.
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1596) 48/1 Joseph of Arimathea..among the Britaine people. 1576 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 167 There bee moreover Brytaine bricks, in the walles of the Church. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 87 The Britan ocean. 1641 Milton Prel. Episc. 18 Our Brittaine Bishops..were remarkable for nothing more then their poverty. |
2. British, in the modern political sense. Britain crown, a gold coin struck by James I, orig. valued at 5s., afterwards at 5s. 6d. (Cf. British Crown.)
| 1609 Bible (Douay) Pref., To teach and feede al Britan people. c 1620 A. Hume (title) Of the Orthographie of the Britan Tongue. 1866 Crump Banking x. 224 James I—Gold [Coins]—Rose-royal..quarter-sovereign, Britain-crown. |
3. Of French Bretagne; Breton.
| c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 390 The Britan..is a dialect of the Welsh. |