56 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 
Many attempts have been made to explain the Etymology of the 
word Sritain. Betham is of the opinion that the Pheenicians gave 
the name Briteen (brith, painted, and daoine, men) to the people 
whom they found in Britain ; and that the word Britain is com- 
pounded of brit, painted, and tana, country, the meaning thus being 
the country of the painted people. It has also been maintained that 
Britain derives its name from Prydain, the first legendary King of 
Britain, after whom the island was called Ynys Prydain, The Island 
of Prydain. Before the Christian era Albin, or Albion, was an 
appellation by which the countries now known as England and Scot- 
land were designated. A/bin, or Albion, is now restricted to Scot- 
land, and is the term which the Scottish Gaels apply to that country. 
Albin is in all likelihood compounded of alb, alp, a mountain, and 
of fhonn, fonn, a country, the import of the word thus being the 
country of hills or mountains. The conjecture has been advanced 
that the name Sritain is composed of braigh, a top, and tonn, a 
wave, braitoim ; and that that appellation was given to Britain in 
consequence of its lofty coast line as seen from the opposite shores of 
Gaul. Sreac, variegated, and innis, an.island, Breacinnis, is another 
derivation which has been assigned for the word in question. It is 
almost needless to remark, that although such interpretations may be 
ingenious, very much that is fanciful enters into them. An inter- 
pretation of a more plausible and accurate kind has recently been 
given by Prof. Rhys, who maintains that “the Greeks of Marseilles 
obtained the word Sritanni from the natives of the south-west of 
England, who brought their tin to market, and in whose country the 
only Celtic speech in use was as yet Goidelic.” He discovers in the 
word Britain, Bretnais, brat, brattan, the Gaelic term for a covering 
or a cloak,—an argument in support of the theory, that the Celts 
assumed the name which the Romans afterward wrote Britanni, to 
distinguish themselves as a clothed or cloth-clad people (breid, a piece 
of cloth) from the naked races who preceded them in the occupation 
of the British Isles. Though, amid so many explanations of the 
origin and Etymology of the word Britain, it appears to be impos- 
sible to arrive at a solution that can be regarded as in all respects 
satisfactory, it may at least be conceded that the termi in question is 
rather Cymric than Gaelic. Breathnach is the name which is applied 
in Irish Gaelic to a Welshman. Dwmbarton, which was once the 
capital of a Kingdom of Britons in the valley of the Clyde, is com- 
