# Britannia
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* enPR: brĭ-tăn′yə, brĭ-tăn′ē-ə, IPA: /bɹɪˈtæn.jə/, /bɹɪˈtæn.i.ə/
* IPA: /bɹɪˈtæn.ɪ.ə/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Proper noun

Britannia
* 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.
* (historical) A province of the Roman Empire covering most of the island of Britain.
    Synonym: Roman Britain
* A number of places in Canada:
** A neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta.
** A settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador.
** A community of Lake of Bays township, Muskoka district municipality, Ontario.
** A group of neighbourhoods in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario.
** A former village in Mississauga, Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario.
** The Rural Municipality of Britannia No. 502, a rural municipality in western Saskatchewan.
* A southern suburb of Bacup, Rossendale borough, Lancashire, England (OS grid ref SD8821).
* A suburb in Cymmer community, Rhondda Cynon Taf county borough, Wales (OS grid ref ST0390).
* 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

* Caledonia
* John Bull

### References

* ↑ OS: Rhondda Cynon Taf

### 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.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “Britannia”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →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 (2001–2025) “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: /ˈbritɑnːiɑ/, [ˈbrit̪ɑ̝nˌniɑ̝]
* Rhymes: -iɑ
* Hyphenation: Bri‧tan‧nia

### Proper noun

Britannia
* (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)
* Britain (Roman province)
* Britannia (female personification of Britain)

#### Declension

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
* britannianenglanti
* Iso-Britannia

## Italian
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin Britannia. Doublet of Bretagna.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /briˈtan.nja/
* Rhymes: -annja
* Hyphenation: Bri‧tàn‧nia

### Proper noun

Britannia f
* (archaic) Great Britain, Britain
    Synonym: (usual term) Bretagna
* Britain (Roman province)
* 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: /briˈtan.ni.a/, [brɪˈt̪änːiä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /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
* Britain (a region of Western Europe, the country of the Britons)
* Great Britain (an island in Western Europe)
    Synonym: Albiōn
* Britannia (a Roman province in Western Europe, on the island of Great Britain)
* (Medieval Latin) Brittany (a region and peninsula in modern France, populated by speakers of Breton)
    Synonym: Armorica
* (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.

#### 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