British
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British is the adjectival form of Britain. In terms of etymology, it is derived from the ancient Greek Pretannic, a term once used as collective description for both Great Britain and Ireland, via the Latin Britannic, which until the 17th century more commonly referred only to Great Britain, especially the territories under Roman control or influence which included Southern Scotland as far as Dumbarton and the Stirling area.[1][2]
The term can be seen in the following contexts:
- In modern identity, a Briton, a collective description for the inhabitants of Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and, to a much lesser degree, Ireland, where it refers almost exclusively the Protestant community of Northern Ireland.[3]
- In a geographical context, it usually applies to someone or something from the island of Great Britain, or to someone or something from the United Kingdom or the Crown Dependencies.
- In a political context it can be applied to a person or object from, or the people or nation of:
- 1707 to 1801 – Kingdom of Great Britain
- 1801 to 1922 – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- 1922 to present – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- The Channel Islands the Isle of Man, (the Crown Dependencies), and the British Overseas Territories.
- Ex-colonies that are still under British control to some degree are now referred to as British Overseas Territories (for example Falklands Islands, Bermuda).
- The British Empire, notably British North America and British India
- Additionally the prefix British was often applied to an area or territory governed by or a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, for example the British Virgin Islands, the British Indian Ocean Territory, or British Columbia.
- A citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- In the term British Isles, see also British Isles (terminology) and British Isles naming dispute.
- In an historical context it can refer to territory of the British Empire, or a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, or territory under occupation of British forces.
- In languages, the ancient Celtic language, British Brythonic language, or mistakenly when meaning British English dialects.
- In ancient people, the Brythons or ancient Britons, who once inhabited the island now known as Britain south of kingdoms centred on the Stirling area in the east, and Dumbarton in the west. The area to the north was originally the territory of the Picts, who are thought to have spoken a type of Brythonic language.
- In sport, competitors representing the United Kingdom (or in the case of the Olympics, Great Britain).
[edit] See also
- Alternative words for British
- Black British
- Brit
- British nationality law
- Briton
- White British
- British Invasion
- British Music
[edit] Notes
- ^ Snyder, Christopher A. (2003). The Britons. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0-631-22260-X.: Bede refers to Dumbarton as "civitas Brettonum munitissima", a most fortified place of the Britons, and Snyder notes that the Gododdin territories in the east of Scotland included the area around Stirling.
- ^ Britannia is so widely used in this period to indicate solely the region of modern-day Great Britain under Roman control that a definition of the term is nearly impossible to come across. However, the following sources identify it in their work: I. Cunningham, C. Fleet & C.W.J. Withers, Putting Scotland on view: Joan Blaeu’s 1654 Atlas Novus, Folio, Issue 9, Autumn 2004 ("Yet in 1577, Ortelius had met the man who would provide an historical and geographical account of Britain – or, to use its correct title as a Roman province, ‘Britannia’."), or F.N.Lee, 1997, Common Law: Roots and Fruits ("The distinguished (530 A.D.) Brythonic historian Gildas says that around A.D. 420 – many parties of "Scots and Picts crossed the Scythian Valley" into the Roman Province of Britannia alias South Britain"). In most cases literature on Roman Britain accepts as matter-of-fact that the reader will understand that Britannia in this period refers to Roman Britain.
- ^ "Constitutional Change and Identidy", Institute of Governance, 2006
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