Talk:British Isles

The term 'British' was not used to describe the whole of the British Isles by the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks knew Great Britain as Albion, and the romans knew Great Britain as 'Brittania' and Ireland as 'Hibernia.' Would anyone mind if I changed the article to reflect this?

That's not correct. The term Britanniae Insulae was used to refer to both Britain and Ireland by Classical geographers. Dorpfeld 05:09, 23 March 2007 (EDT)

It is correct. The Greeks knew Great Britain as Albion, and the ancient Romans knew Great Britain as 'Brittania' (It was one of their provinces) and Ireland as 'Hibernia.' (Which was not one of their provinces.) They would never have refered to a land which was part of their empire with the same name as a land which was not part of their empire. That would not make sense.

The term 'Britanniae Insulae' (Or British Isles) was used much much later, in relatively modern times, (16th century) by a Roman cartographer to describe the islands of Britain and Ireland. Even before the birth of Christ, the Islands were known as Brittania and Hibernia. The use of Brittaniae Insulae by some distant map maker in Rome 1600 years after the islands were first thrown into the light of civilisation is surely just the first instance of the incorrect term British Isles being used to describe the whole archipelago.