Obs. Forms: 1 Bret(t, Bryt(t, Brit(t, 4 Brett, 6 Brit, Britt, (9 Hist. Brett). [OE. Bret (pl. Brettas) a Briton: cf. OCeltic (and L.) Britto; but the OE. form points rather to a variant OCelt. stem *Britt-os, whence perh. the Brittia of Procopius. Hence Brettisc, Bryttisc, BRITISH.]

1

  A.  sb. A Briton: the ordinary name in the O.E. Chronicle; in Scotland applied to the Strathclyde Britons till c. 1300, when the ‘Laws between the Scots and the Bretts’ were abolished by Edward I.; in later usage only historical. B. adj. British.

2

O. E. Chron., an. 890. Butueoh Brettum and Francum, and Brettas him wiþ ʓefuhton [Laud MS. Bryttum, Brittas].

3

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 230. Brit langage for to speik and vse, So that the Britis culd nocht weill refuse. Ibid., 471. All Albione wes in gude rest and peice; Bot[h] Scot and Brit, and Inglismen also.

4

c. 1630.  Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 225 (1810), 238. ’Twixt Britts and Saxons.

5

1873.  Murray, Dial. S. C. Scotl., 3. The Bretts or Welsh of Strathclyde long retained their special laws as distinct from the laws of Scotland.

6