however, is that Pritan- and Britan- are synonymous. The P- goes back through Diodorus Siculus probably to Pytheas (4th cent. b. c.). Polybius (2nd cent. b. c.) seems to have used Βρετ(τ)ανικαὶ νῆσοι; but Strabo and Diodorus have Πρετ(τ)ανικαὶ νῆσοι and Πρετ(τ)ανοί; later Ptolemy and Marcian used Π‑. Stephanus of Byzantium (c. a. d. 500) wrote Βρετ(τ)ανίδες νῆσοι and Βρετ(τ)ανοί, remarking that Dionysius (Periegetes; Augustan age) wrote “one t…Βρετᾱνοί” [read Βρεταννοί], and that others used “p, Πρετανίδες νῆσοι, as Marcian and Ptolemy”; elsewhere Stephanus himself wrote Πρετανίκή and Πρετανοί Holder i 560. The ε in Πρετ- ≡ Brit. ĭ, see § 66 i. Pritan- is an n-stem representing original (*qu̯r̥tₑn- or) *qu̯ritₑn‑; for the nn see § 62 i (2).
The surviving forms show that the old P- forms had one t; thus W. Prydain ‘Britain’, Ml. W. Prydein, implies *Pritan(n)i̯a and Ir. Cruithnech ‘Pictish’ implies a Pictish *Pritenikos; hence the ‑ττ- in Πρεττανικαὶ is probably a misspelling of copyists, due to the Britt- forms which prevailed later. The forms with ‑on- had ‑tt‑; thus W. Brython < Brittones, Bret. Brezonek < *Brittonikā, and Ml. Ir. Bretain 'Britons' represents Brittones regularly. As the new form Brittones spread, Britannia became Brittannia which survives in Fr. Bretagne; later we find Brittania Βρεττανική etc. which were substituted for older forms in mss. There is no possible doubt that the oldest B- form is Britann‑: Catullus (died 54 b. c.), Propertius, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, all scan Brĭtann‑. The evidence of the dated coins and inscriptions in Holder is as follows (the numbers in brackets refer to Holder i): coins of Claudius a. d. 41, 46 have Britannis, Britanni., Britann. (564, 36, 37); inscriptions: a. d. 41 Britannia (589, 52); time of Claudius Britannia (590, 27); a. d. 43 Britannic(um) (598, 24); a. d. 49 Britan(nicis) (599, 34). In a. d. 49 or 50, at least a century after the first evidence of Britann‑, ‑tt- appears first in two inscriptions in the name of Claudius’s son Britannicus: Britta[nico] (602, 18), Brittanici (602, 22); in eight other cases it is Britannicus or Βρεταννικος (602). The early appearance of tt in this name may mean that Brittō was in use as an abbreviated personal name earlier than as meaning ‘Briton’. In the national name the single t continued in use: a. d. 54 Britan(nicum) (600, 22); a. d. 65 Britannico (599, 5); a. d. 80 Britannica (598, 37). In a. d. 85 Brittones first appears in the gen. pl. Brittonum side by side with Britannica (607, 41–2). In a. d. 90 first occurs Brittanniae (588, 7); in a. d. 98 and 103 Britannia again (590, 25; 588, 9); in a. d. 99 Brittonum (607, 43); in a. d. 105 Brittan[nia] (588, 10), in a. d. 110 Brittanniae (590, 5) and Britannica (598, 40). In the 2nd cent. Britann- and Brittann- are both common. Brittania first occurs on a coin in a. d. 185 (590, 50) and Brittanicae in a. d. 210 (599, 51).
The W. Pryden ‘Picts’ § 121 iii from *Pritenes, Prydyn b.t. 13 ‘Pictland’ from *Pritenī, and the Ir. Cruithen Cruithnech seem to have the F-grade ‑en- of the stem-ending, probably a Pictish form. The Picts were Britons, as shown by the fact that p < qu̯ abounds in Pictish names. They kept in their own name the P- which also survives in
