Britain: From brith, meaning "to paint." The British poets called it Inis gwyn, "white island," which answers to the Roman name Albion. It is said that it was known to the Phenicians as Barat-Anac, or "the land of tin," as far back as the year 1037 B.C. Some five hundred years afterwards the island was alluded to by the Romans under the name of Britannia, which subsequently became shortened into Britain.

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