- Brittani
Brittani (People of Britain)
Brittani or the Brittani, Brittanie, Britannaie, is the Roman name for the inhabitants of the Island of Britain.
The
history and development of the name, is largely attributed to the varyingphonetic , distinctions that were characteristic of differencinglanguages andpronunciation , Italian, Gaelic and so forth.One
theory discussing how this might have occurred is "The Romans knew the inhabitants ofIreland as the Scoti. The Gaelic native name was Cruithni; it applied to all the Gaelic people, including thePicts ofScotland . From a phonetic change in GaelicKeltic to Welsh Keltic words beginning with "C" (K) in Gaelic were pronounced with a "P" in Welsh. Thus cenn became penn. Cruithni would then become Prythni. With a further change of "th" to "t" this became Prytni. With a still further (metathesis ) of the "ni" to "in" this became Prytin, and thus our word Britain. The Romans called all the inhabitants of Britain Brittani, both Welsh and Picts. Because the Cruithni and Brittani names are phonetically connectedscholars surmise that the application of Brittani to all the inhabitants of Britain, the Welsh as well as the Picts, was a misapplication throughignorance back in Rome for the people of theBritish Isles . The name has stuck to this day."ee also
*
Brython s
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.