a. (sb.) [f. Cambria, var. of Cumbria, latinized derivative of Cymry (:—OCeltic Combroges ‘compatriots’) Welshmen, or of Cymru Wales. Cumbria and Cambria were originally the same, but were subsequently differentiated: Cambria was regularly applied to Wales by Geoffrey of Monmouth. (Some think that Cymru, a late word, is only a variant of Cymry the name of the people, parallel to the later Eng. use of Wales = OE. Wealas ‘Welshmen,’ as the name of their country.)]
1. Pertaining to Wales, Welsh; sb. a Welshman.
[1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 24/2. There came vnto him a Welsh or a Camber woman.
1626. W. Sclater, Expos. 2 Thess. (1629), 299. Wee, Brittans of t’other race, are growne all Cumber, Camber; quite changed from the temper of our peaceable forefathers. Cf. kim kam, CAM a.]
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Cambrian, Welch, Brittish.
1780. Von Troil, Iceland, 211. Among the ancient Cambrians.
1860. All Y. Round, No. 68. 420. Change is too strong even for Cambrian nationality.
2. Geol. A name given by Sedgwick in 1836 to a group or ‘system’ of Palæozoic rocks lying below the Silurian, in Wales and Cumberland.
As originally defined, the Silurian of Murchison and Cambrian of Sedgwick, being established in different districts, were found on further investigation to overlap each other; the Cambrian is now generally held to include the Tremadoc slates, Lingula flags, Menevian beds, and Longmynd group, containing the Harlech grits and Llanberis slates; but the Geological Surveyors limit the term to the Longmynd group, while others extend it to include all the Lower Silurian of Murchison (Bala and Llandeilo groups).
1842. H. Miller, O. R. Sandst., xii. (ed. 2), 257. The geologist has learnt from Murchison to distinguish the rocks of these two periods,—the lower as those of the Cambrian, the upper as those of the Silurian.
1873. Geikie, Gt. Ice Age, xvi. 207. In Lewis we get boulders of Cambrian sandstone.
1876. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xi. 193. The Cambrian may vary in composition in different regions.
