[L. Britannia, anciently Brittannia, Brittānia (which was Bæda’s spelling), corresp. to Gr. Βρεττανία (Diod. Sic.), f. Brittanni or Brittāni = Gr. Βρεττανοί: see BRITAIN a.]
1. The Latin name of Britain; a poetic name for Britain personified as a female; the female figure on coins, etc., emblematic of Britain.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 11. Þæt lond þe mon bryttania [later MS. bryttannia] hætt. Ibid., 28. Brittannia þæt iʓland … On brettannia.
[1586. Camden (title), Britannia, seu florentissimorum regnorum Angliæ, Scotiæ, Hiberniæ … descriptio. Ibid. (1637), Britannia, transl. newly into English by P. Holland.]
1666–7. Pepys, Diary, 25 Feb. The King’s new medall, where, in little, there is Mrs. Stewart’s face … and a pretty thing it is, that he should choose her face to represent Britannia by.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5404/3. The Figure of a Woman, commonly called Brittannia.
1740. Thomson, Song, ‘Rule Britannia.’
1762–9. Falconer, Shipwr., I. 3. Of famed Britannia were the gallant crew.
1798. Nelson, in Duncan, Life (1806), 101. Britannia still rules the waves.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. iv. Nelson was once Britannia’s god of war.
1864. N. & Q., Ser. III. V. 37/1. The earliest coin … with the figure of Britannia is a copper half penny of 1672.
† 2. Comm. = Britannia Linen: see 3. Obs.
1676. Dampier, Voy., II. II. 110. Broad-cloth, Serges … Britannias, Hollandilloes, Iron-work, &c.
3. attrib. in commercial terms; esp. Britannia-metal, an alloy of tin and regulus of antimony, resembling silver in appearance.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 4189/4. Coarse unwatered Camblets … Britannia Linen … broad Germany Linen.
1817. Brownell’s Sheffield Directory, 73. Britannia Metal Manufacturers. [In earlier directories called ‘White Metal.’]
1849. Dickens, Dav. Copp., 586. Of course we have something in the shape of spoons … but they are Britannia metal.
1882. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 June, 1/1. Prince Bismarck’s oft-quoted … saying, that ‘Speech was silvern and silence golden; but that first to speak and then to run away was Britannia metal.’
Hence Britannian a. = BRITISH.
1589. Gold. Mirr. (1851), 14. Wicked weesels, fled from Britanian grounds.
1613. Purchas, Pilgr., VIII. v. 760. Our Britannian hopes, Prince Henrie and Duke Charles.
a. 1840. E. Elliott, Withered W. Flowers, I. Our Britannian shore.
