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{{dablink|This article is about the ancient ethnic groups of [[Great Britain]]. For the modern term, see [[Briton]]}}
'''Brython''' and '''Brythonic''' are terms which refer to [[Indigenous peoples of Europe|indigenous]], pre-[[Ancient Rome|Roman]], [[Celt]]ic speaking inhabitants of most of the island of [[Great Britain]], and their [[culture]]s and [[language]]s, the [[Brythonic languages]]. These [[ethnic group]]s are also referred to as the '''British tribes''', the '''ancient Britons''', '''ethnic Britons''', or simply '''Britons'''. These terms specifically refer to the culture of speakers of the [[P-Celtic]] branch of the [[Celtic languages]] as opposed to speakers of [[Q-Celtic]], who are usually referred to as [[Gaels]] or [[Goidelic]] Celts.

It is not known whether the whole population of Great Britain was brythonic. A number of scholars argue that the unknown language of the [[Picts]] was ''P-Celtic'', but by sub-Roman times the Picts were distinguished as a separate group, as were the ''Gaels'' of [[Dál Riata]]. The terms "Brython" and "Briton" are traditionally used to mean inhabitants of ancient Britain excluding the Picts, because other cultural features of the Picts, for example their [[sculpture]], [[pottery]] and monumental remains, differ from those of the Brythons. 

==Etymology==
The word ''Brython'' was borrowed from the [[Welsh language]] to differentiate between this purely [[ethno-linguistic]] meaning and the word ''[[Briton]]''.  It comes from the terms ''Bruthin'' or ''[[Cruithne (people)|Priteni]]'', which were used in classical times in geographer's texts{{Fact|date=June 2007}} incorporating fragments of the travel writings of the [[ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[Pytheas]] around 320 BC which describe the peoples of the [[British isles]], including [[Ireland]], as the Πρεττανοί (''Prettanoi'') .<ref name=snyder>{{cite book
  | last = Snyder
  | first = Christopher A.
  | title = The Britons
  | publisher = [[Blackwell Publishing]]
  | date = 2003
  | id = ISBN 0-631-22260-X }}</ref><ref name=ohi>{{cite book
  | last = Foster (editor)
  | first = R F
  | authorlink = 
  | coauthors = Donnchadh O Corrain, Professor of Irish History at University College Cork: Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland
  | title = The Oxford History of Ireland
  | publisher = Oxford University Press
  | date = [[1 November]] [[2001]]
  | location = 
  | url = 
  | doi = 
  | id = ISBN 0-19-280202-X }}</ref> The term  derived from "[[Celtic languages]]"{{Fact|date=June 2007}} and is likely to have reached Pytheas from the [[Gaul]]s<ref name=ohi/> who may have used it as their term for the inhabitants of the islands.<ref>[http://www.celticgrounds.com/chapters/encyclopedia/p.html Encyclopedia of the Celts]: Pretani</ref> The Romans called the inhabitants of Gaul (modern [[France]]) ''Galli'' or ''Celtae''. The latter term came from the [[Ancient Greek]] name [[Κελτοί]] (''Keltoi'') for a central European people, and 17th century antiquarians who found language connections developed the idea of a race of [[Celt]]s inhabiting the area, but this term was not used by the Greeks or Romans for the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland.<ref>[http://www.walespast.com/article.shtml?id=36 The earliest Celts in Europe | WalesPast]</ref> [[Etymologicum Genuinum]] and [[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]]<ref>Patrhenius, ''Love Stories 2, 30'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/Parthenius2.html#30]</ref> mention of ''[[Bretannus]]'' ([[Ancient Greek]]: [[Βρεττανός]]) as a Celt forefather of the Britons. ''Priteni'' is the source of the [[Welsh language]] term [[Prydain]], ''Britain'', and has the same source as the [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]] term [[Cruithne (people)|Cruithne]] which referred to the early [[Brythonic languages|Brythonic]] speaking inhabitants of Ireland and, in [[Scottish Gaelic]], to the [[Picts]].

==Language==
The [[Brythonic languages]] which have survived to the present day are [[Welsh language|Welsh]], [[Breton language|Breton]] and [[Cornish language|Cornish]]. The Brythonic language was also the ancestor to the now extinct [[Cumbric language]].

==Territory==
[[Image:Britain 500 CE.png|thumb|right|450px|Britain, c. 500 AD.]]
The extent of territory of the ''Brythons'' in pre-Roman times is unclear, but is generally taken to include the whole of the island of [[Great Britain]] except (possibly) for the territory of the [[Picts]]. The [[Pictish language]] is unknown and its study is based on very little information, mainly place and personal names. Probably a majority of those studying it favour it being a [[P Celtic]] ([[Brythonic languages|Brythonic]]) dialect, but other conjectures include a pre Celtic remnant language or a mixture of the two.<ref>''[http://www.dot-domesday.me.uk/scotsandpicts.htm The Birth of Nations: SCOTLAND'']. Stephen J. Murray. ''From Dot to Domesday: A History of Britain, from its creation by rising sea levels at the end of the last [[ice age]], to, the product of William the Conqueror's great survey of his kingdom, the [[Domesday Book]].''</ref> 

The territory of the Picts was bounded on the south-east by the [[Votadini]] (later called the [[Gododdin]]), a Brythonic tribe whose territory included an area around [[Stirling]] and the lands south of the [[River Forth]] / [[Firth of Forth]]. To their west, the Brythonic [[Kingdom of Strathclyde]] extended as far north as [[Arrochar]], then to the west of [[Loch Long]] the [[Epidii]], who may have been Brythonic, inhabited [[Argyll]] and [[Kintyre]]. 

The territory is generally taken to exclude the island of [[Ireland]] which is perceived as territory of the [[Gaels]], though early inhabitants of Ireland known as the [[Cruithne (people)|Cruithne]] were Brythonic speaking at this time.

By post-Roman times, the Picts were seen as a separate group, and the territory of the Epidii had become the [[Goidelic]] Celtic territory of [[Dál Riata]]. The English historian [[Bede]] claimed that by 642 [[Oswald]], king of [[Northumbria]], had "brought under his dominion all the nations and provinces of Britain, which are divided into four languages, to wit, those of the Britons, the Picts, the Scots and the English."

== Famous Ancient Britons ==
* [[King Arthur]] - Romano-British war leader [[Historical basis for King Arthur|of debatable historicity]]
* [[Boudica]], Queen of the [[Iceni]], who led the rebellion against [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] occupation in 60. 
* [[Caratacus]], a leader of the defence against the [[Roman conquest of Britain]]
* [[Cartimandua]], Queen of the [[Brigantes]] during and after the Claudian invasion
* [[Cassivellaunus]], led the defence against [[Julius Caesar]]'s second expedition to [[Britannia]] in 54 B.C.
* [[Commius]] historical king of the [[Belgic]] nation of the [[Atrebates]], initially in Gaul, then in [[Britannia]], in the 1st century BC.
* [[Cunedda]], sub Roman King and progenitor of the House of [[Gwynedd]]
* [[Cunobelinus]], historical King of the south of Britain between the Julian and Claudian invasions. The basis for Shakespeare's [[Cymbeline]]
* [[Prasutagus]], husband of Boudica.
* [[Togodumnus]], a leader of the defence against the [[Roman conquest of Britain]]
* [[Pelagius]], a.k.a. "Morgan the Briton", an early Christian monk and [[theologian]], and a contemporary of [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]]'s. Branded a [[Heresy|heretic]] later in life because his theology downplayed or contested the role of [[Divine Grace]] in [[salvation]].

==References==
<references/>

==See also==
* [[Albion]]
* [[Armorica]]
* [[Roman Britain]]
* [[Briton]] (disambiguation)
* [[British (disambiguation)]]
* [[Alternative words for British]]
* [[British Isles]]
* [[British Isles (terminology)]]
* [[King of the Britons]]
* [[List of legendary kings of Britain]]
* [[History of Britain]]
* [[Cornish people]]
* [[Cornovii]]
* [[Welsh people]]
* [[Scottish people]]
* [[Picts]]
* [[Caledonia]]
* [[English people]]
* [[Anglo-Saxons]]
* [[Irish people]]
* [[Hibernia]]
* [[Gododdin]]
* [[Dumbarton]]
* [[Celtic nations]]
*[[List of Celtic tribes]]

==External links==
* The History Files: [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesBritain/BritishMap.htm The Island of Britain AD 450-600 ] (Map of British territories)
* The History Files: [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/index.html Main Index]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_prehistory/iron_01.shtml BBC - History - Native Tribes of Britain]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/programmes/bloodofthevikings/genetics_results_07.shtml DNA from ethnic Britons found in Ireland]

[[Category:Ancient Britain| ]]
[[Category:Celts]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Iron Age Britain]]
[[Category:Roman Britain]]
[[Category:Sub-Roman Britons| ]]

[[br:Brezhoned]]
[[cy:Brythoniaid]]
[[fr:Bretons insulaires]]
[[gl:Bretóns]]
[[it:Britanni]]
[[lt:Britai (keltai)]]
[[ru:Бритты]]