Editing Kingdom of Great Britain (section)

==Etymology==
{{Further|Britain (place name)}}
The name ''Britain'' descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, {{lang|la|Britannia}} or {{lang|la|Brittānia}}, the land of the Britons via the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|Bretaigne}} (whence also [[Modern French]] {{lang|fr|Bretagne}}) and [[Middle English]] {{lang|enm|Bretayne}}, {{lang|enm|Breteyne}}. The term ''Great Britain'' was first used officially in 1474.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hay |first=Denys |title=Europe: the emergence of an idea |date=1968 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=QLpmAAAAMAAJ 138]}}</ref>

The use of the word "Great" before "Britain" originates in the French language, which uses {{lang|fr|Bretagne}} for both Britain and [[Brittany]]. French therefore distinguishes between the two by calling Britain {{lang|fr|la Grande Bretagne}}, a distinction which was transferred into English.<ref>{{Citation |last=Manet |first=François-Gille-Pierre |title=Histoire de la petite Bretagne ou Bretagne armorique |date=1934 |page=74 |language=French}}</ref>

The [[Treaty of Union]] and the subsequent [[Acts of Union 1707|Acts of Union]] state that England and Scotland were to be "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain",<ref name=Acts>{{Cite web |title=The Treaty (act) of the Union of Parliament 1706 |url=http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html |access-date=18 July 2011 |publisher=Scots History Online |archive-date=27 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527074630/http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html |url-status=dead }}<br/>{{Cite web |title=Union with England Act 1707 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aosp/1707/7/contents |access-date=18 July 2011 |publisher=The national Archives }}<br/>{{Cite web |title=Union with Scotland Act 1706 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/aep/Ann/6/11/contents |access-date=18 July 2011 }}:<br/>Both Acts and the Treaty state in Article I: ''That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon 1 May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN''.</ref> and as such "Great Britain" was the official name of the state, as well as being used in titles such as "Parliament of Great Britain".{{Efn|name="name"|"After the political union of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707, the nation's official name became the Kingdom of Great Britain".<ref>''The American Pageant, Volume 1'', Cengage Learning (2012).</ref>}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stanford |first=Harold Melvin |title=The Standard Reference Work: For the Home, School and Library |date=1921 |volume=3 |quote=From 1707 until 1801 ''Great Britain'' was the official designation of the kingdoms of England and Scotland}}; {{Citation |title=United States Congressional serial set |date=1895 |volume=10 |issue=3265 |quote=In 1707, on the union with Scotland, 'Great Britain' became the official name of the British Kingdom, and so continued until the union with Ireland in 1801.}}</ref> The term ''Great Britain'' had been in use in some official contexts for a century, such as at the proclamation of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]'s acession to the throne in 1625 as "King of Great Britain".<ref>Henry Paton, ''HMC Mar & Kellie, Supplement'' (London, 1930), p. 226.</ref> 

The websites of the [[Scottish Parliament]], the [[BBC]], and others, including the [[Historical Association]], refer to the state created on 1 May 1707 as ''the United Kingdom of Great Britain''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 February 2011 |title=England – Profile |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/7327029.stm |publisher=BBC}}; {{Cite web |date=11 January 2012 |title=Scottish referendum: 50 fascinating facts you should know about Scotland (see fact 27) |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/9007300/Scottish-referendum-50-fascinating-facts-you-should-know-about-Scotland.html |website=The Daily Telegraph|location=London}}; {{Cite web |title=Uniting the kingdom? |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/rise_parliament/uniting.htm |access-date=31 December 2010 |website=nationalarchives.gov.uk}}; {{Cite web |date=2 January 2012 |title=The Union of the Parliaments 1707 |url=http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scotlandshistory/unioncrownsparliaments/unionofparliaments/index.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120102060414/http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/scotlandshistory/unioncrownsparliaments/unionofparliaments/index.asp |archive-date=2 January 2012 |website=[[Learning and Teaching Scotland]]}}; {{Cite web |date=15 May 2011 |title=The Creation of the United Kingdom of Great britain in 1707 |url=http://www.history.org.uk/resources/he_resource_730_9.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515023116/http://www.history.org.uk/resources/he_resource_730_9.html |archive-date=15 May 2011 |publisher=[[Historical Association]]}}</ref> Both the Acts and the Treaty describe the country as "One Kingdom" and a "United Kingdom", leading some publications to treat the state as the "United Kingdom".<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 January 2012 |title=Scottish referendum: 50 fascinating facts you should know about Scotland |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/9007300/Scottish-referendum-50-fascinating-facts-you-should-know-about-Scotland.html |website=The Daily Telegraph|location=London |quote=Scotland has been part of the United Kingdom for more than three hundred years}}; {{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/acts_of_union_01.shtml|title=BBC – History – British History in depth: Acts of Union: The creation of the United Kingdom|publisher=BBC}}</ref> The term ''United Kingdom'' was sometimes used informally during the 18th century to describe the state.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gascoigne |first=Bamber |author-link=Bamber Gascoigne |title=History of Great Britain (from 1707) |url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab07 |access-date=18 July 2011 |publisher=History World}}; {{Cite book |last=Burns |first=William E. |title=A Brief History of Great Britain |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Fjf4YynnC90C&pg=PT21 xxi]}}; {{Cite web |date=21–30 August 2007 |title=Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/9th-uncsgn-docs/econf/9th_UNCSGN_e-conf-98-48-add1.pdf |website=Ninth United Nations Conference on the Standardisation of Geographical Names (Item 4 of the provisional agenda, Reports by Governments on the situations in their countries and of the progress made in the standardisation of geographical names since the eighth conference |location=New York}}</ref>