Prydain

Prydain (, ; ) is the modern Welsh name for Great Britain.

Medieval

is the medieval Welsh term for the island of Britain. The Latin name was not used by the Welsh. More specifically, may refer to the Brittonic parts of the island; that is, the parts south of . This distinction appears to derive from Roman times, when the island was divided into Roman Britain to the south and the land of the Caledonians to the North. The peoples north of the Roman borders eventually came to be known as the Picts (); the Welsh term for Pictland was , which caused some confusion in the texts with .

In Middle Welsh texts, the related term ('Island of Britain'), or , can also refer to the island () itself but more often is a name for the Brittonic territories south of Caledonia. It is in this context that the name of the collection of traditional material arranged in triads known as should be understood. In modern Welsh means 'island', but in Middle Welsh it can also mean 'land' or 'realm' (compare Latin ).Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, vol. IV, p. 3819.

There are numerous other instances of the term in medieval Welsh texts. One of the best known is found in the title of the 10th-century vaticinatory poem ('The Prophecy of Britain').Ifor Williams (ed.), Armes Prydein (University of Wales Press, 1955).

In popular culture Prydain is also used by Lloyd Alexander as the name for the realm in which his fantasy book series The Chronicles of Prydain takes place.

See also History of Wales

Britain (place name)

References