Brittani (People of Britain)
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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 varying phonetic, distinctions that were characteristic of differencing languages and pronunciation, Italian, Gaelic and so forth.
One theory discussing how this might have occurred is "The Romans knew the inhabitants of Ireland as the Scoti. The Gaelic native name was Cruithni; it applied to all the Gaelic people, including the Picts of Scotland. From a phonetic change in Gaelic Keltic 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 connected scholars surmise that the application of Brittani to all the inhabitants of Britain, the Welsh as well as the Picts, was a misapplication through ignorance back in Rome for the people of the British Isles. The name has stuck to this day."
