Britannia

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Britannia. Doublet of Britain and Brittany.

Pronunciation

• enPR: brĭ-tăn′yə, brĭ-tăn′ē-ə, IPA^(key): /bɹɪˈtæn.jə/, /bɹɪˈtæn.i.ə/
• IPA^(key): /bɹɪˈtæn.ɪ.ə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Proper noun

Britannia

1. A female personification of Britain or the United Kingdom.
   • 1740, James Thomson (lyrics), Thomas Arne (music), Rule, Britannia!

     Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves / Britons never, never shall be slaves

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, pages 703-704:

     I recall the height of comfort attained by the green-cushioned "first" with starched white antimacassars and a pretentious grey floor mat on which it seemed a sacrilege to stand, as it was embellished with the North Western conception of Britannia, complete with trident.

2. (historical) A province of the Roman Empire covering most of the island of Britain.
3. A number of places in Canada:
   1. A neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta.
   2. A settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador.
   3. A community of Lake of Bays township, Muskoka district municipality, Ontario.
   4. A group of neighbourhoods in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario.
   5. A former village in Mississauga, Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario.
   6. The Rural Municipality of Britannia No. 502, a rural municipality in western Saskatchewan.
4. A southern suburb of Bacup, Rossendale borough, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD8821).
5. A suburb in Cymmer community, Rhondda Cynon Taf county borough, Wales (OS grid ref ST0390).
6. Ellipsis of Britannia metal (“a silvery alloy of tin with copper and antimony, somewhat like pewter”).

   Alternative forms: britannia, britannia metal

Derived terms

• Britannia metal
• Britannia silver
• Cool Britannia

See also

• John Bull

Further reading

• “Britannia”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Britannia”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “Britannia”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “Britannia”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Britannia”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• “Britannia”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Britannia”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Britannia, n.”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “Britannia”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “metal”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume III, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 3731, column 1.

Finnish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Britannia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbritɑnːiɑ/, [ˈbrit̪ɑ̝nˌniɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -iɑ
• Syllabification^(key): Bri‧tan‧ni‧a

Proper noun

Britannia

1. (ambiguously) United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain (used to refer to the state of United Kingdom or its largest island consisting of England, Scotland and Wales)
2. Britain (Roman province)
3. Britannia (female personification of Britain)

Declension

Inflection of Britannia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)
nominative		Britannia	—
genitive		Britannian	—
partitive		Britanniaa	—
illative		Britanniaan	—
		singular	plural
nominative		Britannia	—
accusative	nom.	Britannia	—
	gen.	Britannian
genitive		Britannian	—
partitive		Britanniaa	—
inessive		Britanniassa	—
elative		Britanniasta	—
illative		Britanniaan	—
adessive		Britannialla	—
ablative		Britannialta	—
allative		Britannialle	—
essive		Britanniana	—
translative		Britanniaksi	—
abessive		Britanniatta	—
instructive		—	—
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of Britannia (Kotus type 12/kulkija, no gradation)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Britanniani — accusative nom. Britanniani — gen. Britanniani genitive Britanniani — partitive Britanniaani — inessive Britanniassani — elative Britanniastani — illative Britanniaani — adessive Britanniallani — ablative Britannialtani — allative Britannialleni — essive Britannianani — translative Britanniakseni — abessive Britanniattani — instructive — — comitative — — second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative Britanniasi — accusative nom. Britanniasi — gen. Britanniasi genitive Britanniasi — partitive Britanniaasi — inessive Britanniassasi — elative Britanniastasi — illative Britanniaasi — adessive Britanniallasi — ablative Britannialtasi — allative Britanniallesi — essive Britannianasi — translative Britanniaksesi — abessive Britanniattasi — instructive — — comitative — — first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Britanniamme — accusative nom. Britanniamme — gen. Britanniamme genitive Britanniamme — partitive Britanniaamme — inessive Britanniassamme — elative Britanniastamme — illative Britanniaamme — adessive Britanniallamme — ablative Britannialtamme — allative Britanniallemme — essive Britannianamme — translative Britanniaksemme — abessive Britanniattamme — instructive — — comitative — — second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative Britannianne — accusative nom. Britannianne — gen. Britannianne genitive Britannianne — partitive Britanniaanne — inessive Britanniassanne — elative Britanniastanne — illative Britanniaanne — adessive Britanniallanne — ablative Britannialtanne — allative Britanniallenne — essive Britanniananne — translative Britanniaksenne — abessive Britanniattanne — instructive — — comitative — — third-person possessor singular plural nominative Britanniansa — accusative nom. Britanniansa — gen. Britanniansa genitive Britanniansa — partitive Britanniaansa — inessive Britanniassaan Britanniassansa — elative Britanniastaan Britanniastansa — illative Britanniaansa — adessive Britanniallaan Britanniallansa — ablative Britannialtaan Britannialtansa — allative Britannialleen Britanniallensa — essive Britannianaan Britannianansa — translative Britanniakseen Britanniaksensa — abessive Britanniattaan Britanniattansa — instructive — — comitative — —

Derived terms

• britannialainen

 

compounds

• britannianenglanti
• Iso-Britannia

 

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Britannia. Doublet of Bretagna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /briˈtan.nja/
• Rhymes: -annja
• Hyphenation: Bri‧tàn‧nia

Proper noun

Britannia f

1. (archaic) Great Britain, Britain

   Synonym: (usual term) Bretagna

2. Britain (Roman province)
3. Britannia (female personification of Britain)

Anagrams

• antibrina

Latin

Alternative forms

• Brittannia, Brittania, Britania
• Bretannia, Brettannia, Brettania
• Brictania, Brintania (post-classical), Brytannia (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

Attested from the 1st century BCE, directly or from Ancient Greek Βρεττανία (Brettanía), Πρεττανία (Prettanía) (in Diodorus), earlier νῆσος Πρεττανική (nêsos Prettanikḗ) or Βρεττανίαι (Brettaníai), used by Pytheas (4th century BCE) of the entire archipelago now known as the British Isles.

The Ancient Greek name is ultimately from a Celtic ethnonym, reconstructed as early Brythonic *Pritani, perhaps from a Proto-Celtic *Kʷritanī, *Kʷritenī, whence Welsh Prydyn (“Picts”), Old Irish Cruthne, Cru(i)then-túath (“Picts”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /briˈtan.ni.a/, [brɪˈt̪änːiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /briˈtan.ni.a/, [briˈt̪änːiä]
• Note: only found in hexameters with a short first syllable, except for a single instance of /britt-/ in Lucretius. Sergius on Donatus testifies to /a:n/ rather than /ann/. Romance descendants seem to consistently point to /tt/.

Proper noun

Britannia f (genitive Britanniae); first declension

1. Britain (a region of Western Europe, the country of the Britons)
2. Great Britain (an island in Western Europe)

   Synonym: Albiōn

3. Britannia (a Roman province in Western Europe, on the island of Great Britain)
4. (Medieval Latin) Brittany (a region and peninsula in modern France, populated by speakers of Breton)

   Synonym: Armorica

5. (Medieval Latin) Wales (a region in the modern United Kingdom, populated by speakers of Welsh)

   Synonyms: Cambria, Wallia

Usage notes

• (Wales): In medieval Welsh sources before the 13th century, Britannia was used both in an expansive sense to refer to the island of Britain and in a restricted sense to refer to Wales, i.e. the remaining land of the Britons. From the 12th century the restricted sense of the term was increasingly displaced by Wallia, a name derived from Old English, and later by Cambria.

Declension

First-declension noun, with locative.

	singular	plural
nominative	Britannia	Britanniae
genitive	Britanniae	Britanniārum
dative	Britanniae	Britanniīs
accusative	Britanniam	Britanniās
ablative	Britanniā	Britanniīs
vocative	Britannia	Britanniae
locative	Britanniae	Britanniīs

Derived terms

• Britannia Magna, Britannia Maior, Britannia Major (“Great Britain”)
• Britannia Minor (“Brittany”)
• Britanniae, Britannicae Insulae (“British Isles”)
• Britanniārum Rēgnum (“United Kingdom”, literally “Kingdom of the British Isles”)

 

Related terms

• Britannī
• britanniciānus
• Britanniciānus
• britannicus
• Britannicus
• Britannis
• Britannus
• Brītō / Brittō
• Brītones / Brittones

 

Descendants

• → Arabic: بَرْطَانِيَة (barṭāniya), بِرِيطانِيَا (birīṭāniyā)
  • → Classical Persian: برطانیه (biritâniya)
    • → Pashto: برطانيه (bartānya)
    • → Urdu: بَرْطانِیَہ (bartāniya)
• Catalan: → Bretanya, → Britània (learned)
• → Dutch: Brittannië (learned)
• → English: Britannia (learned)
• → Finnish: Britannia (learned)
• → French: Britannia (learned)
• → German: Britannien (learned)
• → Hungarian: Britannia (learned)
• Italian: Bretagna, → Britannia (learned)
• → Old English: Breten
• Old French: Bretaigne, Britaine
  • → Middle English: Breteyn, Britayne
    • English: Britain, Brittany
      • → Japanese: ブリテン (Buriten)
      • → Korean: 브리튼 (Beuriteun)
      • → Mandarin: 不列顛／不列颠 (Bùlièdiān)
  • French: Bretagne
    • → Japanese: ブルターニュ (Burutānyu)
• Old Galician-Portuguese: Bretanha
  • Galician: Bretaña
  • Portuguese: Bretanha, Britânia
• Sicilian: Britagna, Britanja
• Spanish: Bretaña

See also

• Albiōn (“Britain”)
• Anglia (“England”)
• Aremorica, Armorica (“Brittany”)
• Calēdonia, Scōtia (“Scotland”)
• Cambria, Wallia (“Wales”)
• Īerna, Īernē, Hibernia (“Ireland”)

 

Further reading

• “Britann-” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present
• “BRITANNICAE INSULAE or BRITANNIA”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• Britannia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 228/3.
• Britannia in Georges, Karl Ernst, Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918) Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 1, Hahnsche Buchhandlung, columns 865–866