Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/26

 Chap.X OF MANCHESTER. 9 -communicated to them by their Celtic brethren on the conti- nent. And the import of it may be as eafily afcertained as its origin. It, and that appellation of Brigantes which our anceftors ' received from their conquerors, is derived from the original and common appellation of all the tribes of Britain. The firft denomination of the ifland was Albin or Albion ", a name that was evidently conferred upon it before it was ever inhabited, and while its Alb-in Alb -ion or high rocks were only viewed at a diftance from the oppofite fhore of Gaul. The fecond de- nomination of the ifland was Breatin, Brydain, or Britain " ; a name not applied to the region, but beftowed upon the tnha- biters M ; a name not previoufly borne upon the continent by the original fettlers of the country, but aflumed or received upon the firft removal of them into the ifland. And this name is de- rived from a Celtic word denoting feparation and divifion. This is a particular which in the natural language of the continent has always chara&erifed the inhabitants of this ifland. This is a particular (as I (hall afterwards (hew) which has equally given denomination to the tribes of Ireland, to the nations of Caledo- nia, and to two or three iflands upon our coafts * The original word is ftill retained in the Welfli Brith and the Irifh Bread' any thing divided or ftriped, and in the Irifh Brioth a fra&ion or divifion, the Irifh Briiead a rupture or divifion, and iii the Welfh Breg a divifion or breach. The original word was equally pronounced Bri& or Brit (as the I&ius of Csefar is the Itium of Strabo), Bris, and Brig, and appears with this variety of ter- mination in the ufual appellation of the iflanders Britanhi, in the prefent denomination of the Armorican Britons Brez and Brezonec, and in this the name of the Brigantes. Brit is en- larged into Brit-on, Brit- an, Brit-an-ec in the plural, and fa forms the appellation Brit-on-es, Brit-an-i, and Brit-an-ic-i lf ;' as Brig is either changed into Brig-es in the plural, and forms 1 AUo-brig-es or Allo-brog-es, the appellation of a tribe upon' the continent and of all the Belgae within die ifland**,- or is altered into Brig-an and Brig-ant, and forms the denomi- nation Brig-ant-es. And as we find the name' of Brigantek -ap- , C plied