Editing Kent (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - kentland (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 4r).jpg|thumb|left|Kent, as it appears in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' between 11th and 12th centuries]]

The name is of [[Common Celtic|Celtic]] origin and dates back to at least the 4th century BC. It is one of the earliest names recorded in Britain, known to the Greeks since the explorer [[Pytheas]] recorded it as ''Kantion''{{clarify|reason=did Pytheas use Latin alphabet?|date=May 2025}} during his voyage around the British Isles in about 325&nbsp;BC. As such, it has been claimed as the "oldest recorded name still in use in England".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matthews |first1=C. M. |title=Place-names of the English-speaking world |date=1972 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=9780297995067 |pages=3, 90}}</ref>

The meaning has been explained as 'coastal district', 'corner-land' or 'land on the edge' ({{langx|cy|cant}} 'bordering of a circle, tyre, edge'; {{langx|br|cant}} 'circle'; {{langx|nl|kant}} 'side, edge'). In Latin sources the area is called {{lang|la|Cantia}} or {{lang|la|Cantium}}, while the Anglo-Saxons referred to it as {{lang|ang|Cent}}, {{lang|ang|Cent lond}} or {{lang|ang|Centrice}}.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 November 1949 |title=Kent |url=http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Kent |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916095416/http://etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=Kent |archive-date=16 September 2017 |access-date=16 September 2017 |publisher=[[Etymonline]]}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Howe |first=Ian |title=Kent Dialect |publisher=Bradwell Books |year=2012 |isbn=9781902674346 |pages=26 |language=en}}</ref>