Editing Isle of Thanet (section)

==Etymology==
The island of Thanet is mentioned as ''Tonetic'' (c. AD 150; the TON- of this form was misread as TOΛI-, hence it appears as ''Toliatis'' in the surviving manuscripts of [[Ptolemy]]); ''Tanat's'',{{sfn|De Beaurepaire|1981|p=170}} ''Athanatos'' and ''Thanatos'' (in various copies of 3rd C AD, [[Gaius Julius Solinus|Solinus]]);{{sfn|Brayley|1817|p=6}} ''Tanatos'' (AD 731); ''Tenid'' in 679{{sfn|De Beaurepaire|1981|p=170}} and ''Tenet'' (e.g. charters of AD 679, 689 and thereafter); and the Old Welsh forms ''Tanet'' and ''Danet'', found in the ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'' (c. AD 829/30) and [[Armes Prydein]] (c. AD 930).<ref>[https://www.caitlingreen.org/2015/04/thanet-tanit-and-the-phoenicians.html Blog]</ref> 

Standard reference works for English place-names (such as [[Eilert Ekwall]]'s ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names'') state the name ''Tanet'' is known to be [[Common Brittonic|Brythonic]] in origin. Commonly the original meaning of Thanet is thought to be "fire" or "bright island" (''tân'' in [[Welsh language|Modern Welsh]] and ''tan'' in Breton means fire), and this has led to speculation the island was home to an ancient beacon or lighthouse.{{sfn|Ekwall|1960|p=464}}{{sfn|Glover|1976|p=189}}{{sfn|Mills|1998|p=342}}

Another theory states that ''Tanet'' is a common European [[Toponymy|toponymic]] creation of Celtic origin, based on the Celtic word ''*tanno-'' meaning "[[Holm-oak|holm oak]]" (compare Breton ''tann'' "sort of oak", Cornish ''glastannen'' "holm oak") and the Celtic suffix ''*-etu'', to mean a collection of trees. Thanet would mean "place of the holm oaks", such as the Northern French [[Saint-Aubin-du-Thenney|Thenney]] (Eure, ''Thaneth'' ab. 1050); [[Tennie]] (Sarthe, ''Tanida'' 9th century) or the Italian Tanedo (Lombardy, ''Tanetum'', [[Tite-Live]]).{{sfn|De Beaurepaire|1981|p=170}}
A third theory suggests that the origin of the toponym is the name of the [[Punic religion|Punic goddess]] [[Tanit]].{{sfn|Vennemann|2012}}

The 7th-century Archbishop [[Isidore of Seville]] recorded an [[Apocrypha|apocryphal]] folk-etymology in which the island's name is fancifully connected with the Greek word for death ([[Thanatos|Thanatos/Θάνατος]]), stating that Thanet, "an island of the ocean separated from Britain by a narrow channel&nbsp;... [was] called ''Tanatos'' from the death of serpents; for while it has none of its own, soil taken from it to any place whatsoever kills snakes there."<ref>Isidore of Seville, quoted in {{harvnb|Vennemann|2012|pp=392–3}}.</ref>

The ''[[Historia Brittonum]]'', written in the 9th century, states that "''Tanet''" was the name used for the island by the legendary [[Jutes]] [[Hengist and Horsa]], while its name in [[Old Welsh]] was "''Ruoi(c)hin''"; this name may be translated as "gift" (''rhwych'' in [[Modern Welsh]]).{{sfn|Morris|1980|pp=26, 67}}{{sfn|Vennemann|2012|loc=p.&nbsp;419, n.&nbsp;42}}

Other names used by Britons were "''Ruim''" and "''Ruochim Inis''".{{sfn|Brayley|1817|p=6}}