Why is it called Great Britain ? - Historum

**Mohammed the Persian** · March 17th, 2011, 12:16 AM

This, I've thought about when I was going through some Wikipedia pages. Britain is often referred to as Great Britain. Is it because the British think the Island is 'great' or is there more History to it ?

I think it makes them sound a bit supremacist

**Toltec** · March 17th, 2011, 12:27 AM

It's a description of the people that live there.

**Qymaen** · March 17th, 2011, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mohammed the Persian

This, I've thought about when I was going through some Wikipedia pages. Britain is often referred to as Great Britain. Is it because the British think the Island is 'great' or is there more History to it ?

I think it makes them sound a bit supremacist

I believe it is because the islands are the British Isles. They are the British, though. Defeating European superpowers while drinking tea.

**Mohammed the Persian** · March 17th, 2011, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toltec

It's a description of the people that live there.

British people are great ? Do elaborate

**Vladd** · March 17th, 2011, 12:32 AM

Here is the reason

Quote:

Originally Posted by wordiq.com

Why "Great" Britain rather than Britain?

There are in fact two "Britain"s: the island of Britain in the British Isles and the land of Britain in France. In French these are known as Grande Bretagne and Bretagne, in English as Great Britain and Brittany. The word "Great" in this context has its old meaning of "big" as in "she was great with child" or "Greater London". Likewise, the ending "-y" on the end of "Brittany" has the meaning "Little", as in "doggy", meaning "small dog", or "Jimmy", meaning "little Jim". During medieval times, the British Isles were referred to as Britannia major and Britannia minor (as in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae). The term "Bretayne the grete" was used by chroniclers as early as 1338, but it was not used officially until King James I proclaimed himself "King of Great Britain" on 20 October 1604 to avoid the more cumbersome title "King of England and Scotland".

**Mohammed the Persian** · March 17th, 2011, 01:00 AM

Interesting, so the French came up with the title ? And the British kept it because it was fancy ?

It makes much sense now, I used to think it was about British Superiority or something, silly me

Serena · March 17th, 2011, 01:08 AM

The union of England and Scotland was a reformation of old Roman provinces of Britain and 'great' in reference to large, helped distinguish it from being confused with Brittany.

halomanuk · March 17th, 2011, 03:01 AM

Well we were superior in a lot of ways at the time - just not at the moment alas.

**Sargon of Akkad** · March 17th, 2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Qymaen

I believe it is because the islands are the British Isles. They are the British, though. Defeating European superpowers while drinking tea.

Hey, somebody has to do it!

**Sargon of Akkad** · March 17th, 2011, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toltec

It's a description of the people that live there.

We clearly are better than everyone else though, or else we'd live like everyone else does instead of how we do.

You can find evidence of this by all those immigrant communities who have fully integrated into the British way of life because...oh wait, that's the US. Dammit.