Note 31 — III. THULE, PART OF GREAT BRITAIN

برة التنك (Barrat el Tanak), “tanak” being the Arabic for tin.—Dr Charnock in his various writings (Local Etymology, etc.), after referring to the derivation of Britannia from the Punic ברת אנכ, barat-anac, the land of tin or lead; and the Hebrew ברא, bara, in Pihel, to create, produce; quoting Camden, Owen, Clarke, Borlase, Bochart, Boerhave, Shaw, Bosworth, and Armstrong, gives the following suggested derivations of the name from the Keltic, viz.: from its inhabitants, the Brython; from brit, brith, of divers colours, spotted (ברד, brd, pl. ברדים, brdim, spots, spotted with colours); bràith-tuinn, (the land on) the top of the wave; from Yuys Prydain, the fair island; from Prydyn, son of Aez the Great; from bri, dignity, honour; from Brutus, a fabulous king of Britain; from bret, high, tain, a river; but Dr Charnock inclines to derive the name from bret-inn, the high island. It need hardly be said that the Tin Islands (Cassiterides) contained no tin; like Zanzibar, they were probably a mere depôt where the Phœnicians met the savages of the interior.