Editing Brittonic languages (section)

==Name==
The names "Brittonic" and "Brythonic" are scholarly conventions referring to the [[Celtic languages]] of Britain and to the ancestral language they originated from, designated [[Common Brittonic]], in contrast to the [[Goidelic languages]] originating in Ireland. Both were created in the 19th century to avoid the ambiguity of earlier terms such as "British" and "Cymric".<ref name="OEDBrythonic">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Brythonic, adj. and n. |encyclopedia=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=June 2013 |url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/272106?redirectedFrom=Brythonic& |access-date=17 July 2013}}</ref> "Brythonic" was coined in 1879 by the Celticist [[John Rhys]] from the Welsh word {{lang|cy|Brython}}.<ref name="OEDBrythonic" /><ref name="Jackson">Jackson, p. 3.</ref> "Brittonic", derived from "[[Britons (Celtic people)|Briton]]" and also earlier spelled "Britonic" and "Britonnic", emerged later in the 19th century.<ref name="OEDBrittonic">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Brittonic, adj. and n. |encyclopedia=[[OED Online]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=June 2013 |url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/23485? |access-date=17 July 2013}}</ref> "Brittonic" became more prominent through the 20th century, and was used in [[Kenneth H. Jackson]]'s highly influential 1953 work on the topic, ''Language and History in Early Britain''. Jackson noted by that time that  "Brythonic" had become a dated term: "of late there has been an increasing tendency to use Brittonic instead."<ref name="Jackson" /> Today, "Brittonic" often replaces "Brythonic" in the literature.<ref name="OEDBrittonic" /> [[Rudolf Thurneysen]] used "Britannic" in his influential ''A Grammar of Old Irish'', although this never became popular among subsequent scholars.<ref name="Koch305">{{cite book |last=Koch |first=John T. |author-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA973 |access-date=18 July 2013 |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1851094407 |page=305}}</ref>

Comparable historical terms include the [[Medieval Latin]] {{lang|la-x-medieval|lingua Britannica}} and {{lang|la-x-medieval|sermo Britannicus}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Koch |first=John T. |author-link=John T. Koch |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&pg=PA973 |access-date=18 July 2013 |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1851094407 |page=306}}</ref> and the [[Welsh language|Welsh]] {{lang|cy|Brythoneg}}.<ref name="OEDBrythonic" /> Some writers use "British" for the language and its descendants, although, due to the risk of confusion, others avoid it or use it only in a restricted sense. Jackson, and later [[John T. Koch]], use "British" only for the early phase of the Common Brittonic language.<ref name="Koch305" />

Before Jackson's work, "Brittonic" and "Brythonic" were often used for all the [[P-Celtic and Q-Celtic languages|P-Celtic languages]], including not just the varieties in Britain but those [[Continental Celtic languages]] that similarly experienced the evolution of the [[Proto-Celtic language]] element {{IPA|/kʷ/}} to {{IPA|/p/}}. However, subsequent writers have tended to follow Jackson's scheme, rendering this use obsolete.<ref name="Koch305" />

The name "Britain" itself comes from {{langx|la|Britannia~Brittania}}, via [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|Bretaigne}} and Middle English {{lang|enm|Breteyne}}, possibly influenced by [[Old English language|Old English]] {{lang|ang|Bryten[lond]}}, probably also from Latin {{lang|la|Brittania}}, ultimately an adaptation of the native word for the island, {{lang|cel-x-proto|Pritanī}}.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Britain&allowed_in_frame=0 |title=Britain |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary}}</ref><ref>Chadwick, Hector Munro, Early Scotland: The Picts, the Scots and the Welsh of Southern Scotland, Cambridge University Press, 1949 (2013 reprint), p. 68</ref>

An early written reference to the British Isles may derive from the works of the Greek explorer [[Pytheas]] of [[Marseille|Massalia]]; later Greek writers such as [[Diodorus of Sicily]] and [[Strabo]] who quote Pytheas' use of variants such as {{lang|grc|πρεττανική}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Prettanikē}}), "The Britannic [land, island]", and {{lang|grc|νησοι βρεττανιαι}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|nēsoi brettaniai}}), "Britannic islands", with {{lang|cel-x-combrit|Pretani}} being a Celtic word that might mean 'painted ones' or 'tattooed folk', referring to body decoration.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cunliffe |first=Barry |author-link=Barry Cunliffe |date=2012 |title=Britain Begins |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=4}}</ref>