the name "britain" descends from the latin name for britain, "britannia" or "brittānia", the land of the britons. old french "bretaigne" (whence also modern french "bretagne") and middle english "bretayne", "breteyne". the french form replaced the old english "breoton, breoten, bryten, breten" (also "breoton-lond, breten-lond"). britannia was used by the romans from the 1st century bc for the british isles taken together. it is derived from the travel writings of pytheas around 320 bc, which described various islands in the north atlantic as far north as thule (probably norway).