Celtic Britons

The Britons (also called Brythons) were the people who spoke a Celtic language known as Common Brittonic. They lived in Great Britain during the Iron Age, Roman Britain and Sub-Roman Britain after the Romans' departure from Britain. Following the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, who occupied most what is now England, some of the Britons migrated to Wales, Cornwall and southern Scotland, while others moved to Armorica and renamed it Brittany. Those who remained were absorbed into Anglo-Saxon society.

Queen Boadicea of the Iceni tribe.

Name

Further information: Britain (place name) and Britons

6th Century Britons pushed westward

The name of the Britons in Modern English is borrowed in part from Latin: Brittōn-, Brittō, and in part from Middle French (Anglo-Norman: bretoun).^[1] During Roman Britain, the Latin word Brittō and its plural, Brittones, took the place of the Romans' earlier word for a person from Britain, Britannus, and its plural, the Britannī.^[1][2] The people of Roman Britain, who were Romano-British, called themselves Brittones in Latin.^[1] Other people also called the Britons thiatway: the work of the Roman historian Procopius names them as Βρίττωνες (Brítonōnes) in Greek, and in Ireland, the Britons were called in Old Irish Bretain.^[1] Some modern Celtic languages also use that form for Britain was well: Scottish Gaelic has Breatainn, and Irish has Breatain.^[1]

The Anglo-Saxon historian Bede, writing in Latin, used the name Bretto, with the plural Brettones.^[1] The "e" vowel in this spelling could be taken from the Old English word for the Britons, Brett, which was also spelled Britt-, Bryt, Brytt-, Bret and Brit.^[2] The Anglo-Saxons probably took that name from the Romano-British.^[2] The Latin: Brittus, lit. 'a Briton' was a word used in Britain from the 5th century.^[2] Whether the Anglo-Saxons took the name Brett from the Latin name or from a British word of the same meaning is unknown.^[2] The Anglo-Saxons must have started using the word Brett by the 6th century.^[2] If they had copied the British word at a later time, the word would have had -th- instead of -t-, like the Welsh Brython, which literally means "Britons". In that case, the Old English copy would have had -þ- or -ð- instead of -tt-.^[2]

The name continued to be used in Middle English, with the spellings Bret, Brette and Brettis.^[2] Middle English also used the forms Brut and Brutt-, with the spelling copied from the name of Brutus of Troy. Mediaeval mythology was that Britain had been named after Brutus.^[2] In Early Modern English, the forms Brett and Britt were used.^[2] The spellings Bret and Brit were used in Scots.^[2]

The first professor of Celtic languages at the University of Oxford, John Rhys, was the first person to use the name "Brython" (from Welsh: Brython) in academia as another English word for the Britons.^[3] He named the languages of the Britons "Brythonic" or the "Brythonic languages".^[4] Rhys used those names to be clear about what he meant because names like "British" could be ambiguous (have more than one meaning).^[4] "Brythonic" and "Brythonic languages" are names that are no longer common and are usually replaced by the names "Brittonic" and "Brittonic languages" in linguistics (the study of languages).^[5]

Celtic tribes

From the Iron Age onward, Britain was divided among a variety of Celtic tribes. When the Romans came, many of the tribes adopted Roman culture and the Latin language.

Celtic tribes in pre-Roman Britain.

Central

• The Brigantes - Controlled what would later be much of Northern England.
• The Carvetii - Located in the area of the Solway Plain just north of Hadrian's Wall.
• The Corieltauvi - Lived in what is now the East Midlands.
• The Cornovii - Lived in what is now the West Midlands.
• The Parisii - Occupied what is now East Yorkshire.

Southeastern

• The Atrebates - Occupied what is now West Sussex, parts of Hampshire and Surrey.
• The Belgae - Were in and around Hampshire.
• The Cantiaci - Lived in and gave their name to the modern county of Kent
• The Catuvellauni - Occupied what would later be Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
• The Iceni - Lived in the area of what was later Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire
• The Regnenses - Occupied what would be East Sussex and Surrey
• The Trinovantes - Controlled Essex and parts of Hertfordshire and Middlesex.

Western

• The Deceangli - Territory included north-east Wales
• The Demetae - Gave their name to Dyfed; also inhabited modern Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.
• The Dobunni - Territory included northern Somerset, Bristol, and Gloucestershire
• The Dumnonii - Occupied what would be Cornwall and Devon.
• The Durotriges - Occupied the later area of Dorset and western Hampshire.
• The Gangani - Occupied much of north-western Wales
• The Ordovices - Lived in northern Wales and Anglesey
• The Silures - Territory included modern Monmouthshire, Breconshire and Glamorganshire.