The Name Britain.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

Yesterday I found a gem of a book in my local secondhand / antique bookshop,this shop is full of wonderful old books and has quite a big selection on Roman history, last year I bought a 1917 copy of Caesar's commentari de bello Gallico with the Latin on one side of the page and the translation on the other, my favorite book in my collection. Anyway, the book I came away with yesterday is called "Roman Britain and the English Settlements" by Collingwood and Myers it's a first edition from 1936 and it's in fantastic condition and it only cost me

Edited June 7, 2008 by Gaius Paulinus Maximus

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, GPM

 

Here comes Pytheas' Periplus Περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ extracted by Polybius on Histories Liber XXXIV cp. V, as transcribed by Strabo on Geographia Liber II cp. IV:

 

καὶ Πυθέαν, ὑφ' οὑ̂ παρακρουσθη̂ναι πολλούς, ὅλην μὲν τὴν Βρεττανικὴν ἐμβαδὸν ἐπελθει̂ν φάσκοντος, τὴν δὲ περίμετρον πλειόνων ἢ τεττάρων μυριάδων ἀποδόντος τη̂ς νήσου,

 

and Pytheas who has led many people into error by saying that he traversed the whole of Britain on foot, giving the island a circumference of forty thousand stades,

Edited June 9, 2008 by ASCLEPIADES

[DecimusCaesar]

There is an interesting section about this in Barry Cunliffe's The Celts. He discusses the journey of Pytheas and the origin of the word Britain. It is interesting to note that it could originate from a word used to describe painted people. It also reminds me of how the Greek traders claimed that the word Keltoi meant 'hidden people'. The question is, how did anyone know what those words meant. We don't have conclusive proof either way. Did Pytheas have translators at hand when he discussed these matters? Apparently he learnt this information from Iberian traders who had traded with the Britons or Prittani. Interestingly the Welsh word for Britain to this day is 'Prydain'.

 

By the way it is worth noting that Barry Cunliffe wrote a much praised book on Pytheas the Greek. Sadly though it is out of print.

[falkor2k9]

It was definitely a Greek who sailed to Britain during the Iron Age and came up with the forerunner to "Britain" based on the painted people...I don't know the exact details and don't really care what happened on my islands before Caesar's time.