Albion (called Alouion by
Ptolemy) is the most ancient name of
Great Britain, though sometimes used to refer to the
United Kingdom, or specifically (incorrectly) to
England.Occasionally it instead refers to only
Scotland, whose name in
Gaelic is
Alba (and similarly, in
Irish, and Yr Alban in Welsh).
Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (iv.xvi.102) applies it unequivocally to Great Britain: "It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae." The name Great Britain originates with the
Picts, a people present in the
British Isles before the Celts. The
Britons and early
Welsh of the south knew them, in the P-Celtic form of "Cruithne", as Prydyn; the terms "Britain" and "Briton" come from the same root. The name Albion was taken by medieval writers from Pliny and
Ptolemy.
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