New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-23
The Irish as Britons

To the Editor OF The Tribune
Sir: Your article on the England" versus
Britain" controversy has been brought to
at once, Has not the term Britain" come,
naturally long ago, to mean and include not
only Great Britain but Ireland? You seem
to take the more limited view, reminding
Mr.. John White Johnston that Trishmen are
not satisfied to be called West Britons"
Irishmen, like Englishmen, can be recon-
ciled to the proper designation if they are
willing TO admit that many of the traditions
regarding themselves might be proftably
discarded and the way cleared for the ac-
ceptance Of more recent knowedge-even to
the extent Of recognizing the fact that the
word Britain is properly inclusive of Great
Britain and Ireland, as well as for the Brit
ish Empire as whole.
AS Lincoln said about words. Let US look
into them, not at them. So looking into the
word Britain we discover one remarkable
rived from the tongues Of the two oldest
races inhabiting not only Great Britain, but
Ireland, !. e., the Cells and their immediate
predecessors, the Ibers, or Iberians the
latter race being. indeed, the original inhab-
itants OF the British Isles wherever they
were inhabited. and whose blood still flows
in British veins. DR.. Isaac Taylor, an ac-
ceptable authority, says, "the name Britain
contains, it would seem, the suffix etan
which is used to signify district or coun-
try, in the names of most regions known to
or occupied by the lberic race" The doctor
gives fifteen examples Of such names, one Of
which is Lus -itan-ia, the ancient name Of
Portugal. THE first syllable Of the name,
bro. or bril-" he continues, ais probably a
Celtic gloss (Brezonec, bro, a country which
appears in the name Allo-bro-ges and Penn
broke" (P. 80, Names and Places 1855,
Macmillan e. Co, Lordon.) Britain, then, or
lber-etan, might well be applied to a group
of islands the original inhabitants of which
were undoubtedly Of the lberian race, even
though they were supplanted by the real
Britons.
The Latest Authority
Following the lbers came the two branches
OF the Celtic race, the Cymric (British) and
the Gadhelic, or Irish Gaels; and it has been
generally believed that il was only the latter
branch that gave rise to what is known as
the Irish race. On this. however, the very
latest authority, Mr.. w. c. Mackenzie ("The
Races OF Ireland and Scotland" 1916, Gard
ner, Paisley, Scotland. comes to a very
different conclusion. which is that before
the Gael as national name came into cx-
istence the dominant people of Ireland were
immigrants from Britain, speaking the same
language as the Britcns" (p. 92). Further.
Hibernia is usually regarded as an equation
for hernia, j. G., iberia; and ar (Cymric,
that is, British may be the real name of
Erin; it means, in effect, the Emerald Isle"
at seems TO be from Ir, or iberia. for they
are the same name" So Hibernia got it's
name from the British immigrants, who be-
came "the dominant people of Ireland, who
lived in the valley OF the Ivernus or Ierne," as
indicated by Ptolemy's map Of the second
century. Besides, the early geographers un-
derstood the name Britain to include Ire
land as one of the British islands as a whole.
There would therefore seem 10 be reasons
sufficient for accepting the name Britain as
the inclusive one for the British islands and
their peoples and the British dominons "be-
yond the seas" or, as they might be called,
the other Britans. ROBERT c. AULD.
New York, May Il, 1917