the earliest known name for great britain is "albion" () or "insula albionum", from either the latin "albus" meaning "white" (possibly referring to the white cliffs of dover, the first view of britain from the continent) or the "island of the "albiones"". the oldest mention of terms related to great britain was by aristotle (384–322 bc), or possibly by pseudo-aristotle, in his text "on the universe", vol. iii. to quote his works, "there are two very large islands in it, called the british isles, albion and ierne".