Great Britain Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Derivation of ''Great''=== [[File:Ptolemy-british-isles.jpg|thumb|A 1490 Italian reconstruction of the relevant map of [[Ptolemy]] who combined the lines of roads and of the coasting expeditions during the first century of Roman occupation. Two great faults, however, are an eastward-projecting Scotland and none of Ireland seen to be at the same latitude of Wales, which may have been if Ptolemy used Pytheas' measurements of latitude.<ref>{{cite journal |first=James J. |last=Tierney |title=Ptolemy's Map of Scotland |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=79 |year=1959 |pages=132–148 |doi=10.2307/627926 |jstor=627926|s2cid=163631018 }}</ref> Whether he did so is a much debated issue. This "copy" appears in blue below.]] The [[Greeks in Egypt|Greco-Egyptian]] scientist [[Ptolemy]] referred to the larger island as ''great Britain'' (μεγάλη Βρεττανία ''megale Brettania'') and to Ireland as ''little Britain'' (μικρὰ Βρεττανία ''mikra Brettania'') in his work ''[[Almagest]]'' (147–148 AD).<ref>{{cite book|title=Claudii Ptolemaei Opera quae exstant omnia|first=Claudius|last=Ptolemy|author-link=Ptolemy|editor1-last=Heiberg|editor1-first=J.L.|publisher=in aedibus B. G. Teubneri|location=Leipzig|year=1898|volume=1 Syntaxis Mathematica|chapter-url=http://www.wilbourhall.org/pdfs/HeibergAlmagestComplete.pdf|pages=112–113|chapter=Ἕκθεσις τῶν κατὰ παράλληλον ἰδιωμάτων: κβ', κε'}}</ref> In his later work, ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' ({{Circa|150 AD}}), he gave the islands the names ''[[Albion|Alwion]]'', ''[[Hibernia|Iwernia]]'', and ''Mona'' (the [[Isle of Man]]),<ref>{{cite book|title=Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia|first=Claudius|last=Ptolemy|author-link=Ptolemy|editor1-last=Nobbe|editor1-first=Carolus Fridericus Augustus|publisher=sumptibus et typis Caroli Tauchnitii |location=Leipzig|year=1843|volume=1|chapter-url=http://www.wilbourhall.org/pdfs/ptolemy/Claudii_Ptolemaei_GeographiaVOL_I.pdf|pages=59, 67|chapter=Book II, Prooemium and chapter β', paragraph 12}}</ref> suggesting these may have been the names of the individual islands not known to him at the time of writing ''Almagest''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Freeman |first=Philip |title=Ireland and the classical world |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2001 |location=Austin, Texas |page=65 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA65 |isbn=978-0-292-72518-8 }}</ref> The name ''Albion'' appears to have fallen out of use sometime after the [[Roman conquest of Britain]], after which ''Britain'' became the more commonplace name for the island.<ref name="snyder" /> After the Anglo-Saxon period, ''Britain'' was used as a historical term only. [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] in his [[pseudohistory|pseudohistorical]] {{Lang|la|[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]}} ({{Circa|1136}}) refers to the island of Great Britain as ''Britannia major'' ("Greater Britain"), to distinguish it from ''Britannia minor'' ("Lesser Britain"), the continental region which approximates to modern [[Brittany]] and had been settled in the fifth and sixth centuries by [[Celtic Briton]] migrants from Great Britain.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} The term ''Great Britain'' was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between [[Cecily of York|Cecily]], daughter of [[Edward IV of England]], and [[James IV of Scotland|James]], son of [[James III of Scotland]], which described it as "this Nobill Isle, callit Gret Britanee". The Scottish philosopher and historian, [[John Major (philosopher)|John Major]] (Mair), published his 'History of Great Britain, both England and Scotland' (''Historia majoris Britanniae, tam Angliae quam Scotiae'') in 1521. While promoting a possible royal match in 1548, [[Lord Protector Somerset]] said that the English and Scots were, "like as twoo brethren of one Islande of great Britaynes again." In 1604, [[James VI and I]] styled himself "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland".<ref>Nicholls, Andrew D., [https://books.google.com/books?id=r5gEbF0yyLMC ''The Jacobean Union: A Reconsideration of British Civil Policies Under the Early Stuarts'', 1999. p. 5.]</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page