What was wales called before wales?

Answer 1

Well , originally it wouldn't have had an English alternative (Wales) and would have always been Cymru (I think)

In the same way , while England had complete power over us , they also forced us to change many on the towns names - this is why some towns have English names , and almost all towns have an English alternative (e.g Cardiff = Caerdydd)

Another opinion:The Welsh people are called Cymry. The Romans called Wales Cambria. The word may derive from Old Welsh kombrogí (compatriots). Another opinion:"Wales" comes from Wealhas a Germanic word meaning "foreigner" or something similar and was given by Germanic people to their neighbours who had previously been living under the Romans - for example Wallonia in Belgium (the French speaking bit) and Wallachia in Romania. The Welsh only began calling themselves "Cymry" and their land "Cymru" in the Middle Ages. Prior to this they had universally called themselves Bryttaniait meaning "Britons" and their island home was called Ynys Prydein, or the Isle of Britain. In the Dark Ages following the end of the Roman Occupation what we know as Wales was made up of numerous small kingdoms and a concept of "Wales" did not exist, people would have considered the geographical portions of Wales as part of Gwynedd or Powys et c.

The name "Cambria" is latin and may be a derrivation of an earlier Welsh word something like Kambrwg. In Welsh legend the island of Britain was divided at some point with a king called Kamber map Brwth inheriting the mountainous west now known as Wales which was afterwards named in his honour.

The names "Britain" and "Britons" (and variations of those words) was first recorded by the Greeks in about 325BC as Prettanike or Πρεττανοι. This appears to derrive from a native name for the land and people at the time; Pretani - the origins of which are confusing but according to ancient Welsh legend may derive from an ancient God or King called Bryt or Brwth (Latin: Brutus) who is remembered for leading his followers to the island and it was named or rather, renamed in his honour.

Various Roman and Greek geographies (such as Pliny, Caesar and others) state that the "Pretannic" or "Britannic" islands were anciently called "Albion" (Ἀλβίων) or insula Albionum. This may come from the Latin word Albus meaning "white". Welsh chroniclers writing in the 12th Century record the name Y Wen Ynys (meaning The White Island or The Fair Island) as the original name for the country. Some experts assert that Albion is a distortion of the Celtic words Alw-ion meaning something like "beautiful enclosure".

With all this, history becomes legend and legend becomes myth and the further back you go the more sketchy it is!

Answer 2

Well , originally it wouldn't have had an English alternative (Wales) and would have always been Cymru (I think)

In the same way , while England had complete power over us , they also forced us to change many on the towns names - this is why some towns have English names , and almost all towns have an English alternative (e.g Cardiff = Caerdydd)

Another opinion:The Welsh people are called Cymry. The Romans called Wales Cambria. The word may derive from Old Welsh kombrogí (compatriots). Another opinion:"Wales" comes from Wealhas a Germanic word meaning "foreigner" or something similar and was given by Germanic people to their neighbours who had previously been living under the Romans - for example Wallonia in Belgium (the French speaking bit) and Wallachia in Romania. The Welsh only began calling themselves "Cymry" and their land "Cymru" in the Middle Ages. Prior to this they had universally called themselves Bryttaniait meaning "Britons" and their island home was called Ynys Prydein, or the Isle of Britain. In the Dark Ages following the end of the Roman Occupation what we know as Wales was made up of numerous small kingdoms and a concept of "Wales" did not exist, people would have considered the geographical portions of Wales as part of Gwynedd or Powys et c.

The name "Cambria" is latin and may be a derrivation of an earlier Welsh word something like Kambrwg. In Welsh legend the island of Britain was divided at some point with a king called Kamber map Brwth inheriting the mountainous west now known as Wales which was afterwards named in his honour.

The names "Britain" and "Britons" (and variations of those words) was first recorded by the Greeks in about 325BC as Prettanike or Πρεττανοι. This appears to derrive from a native name for the land and people at the time; Pretani - the origins of which are confusing but according to ancient Welsh legend may derive from an ancient God or King called Bryt or Brwth (Latin: Brutus) who is remembered for leading his followers to the island and it was named or rather, renamed in his honour.

Various Roman and Greek geographies (such as Pliny, Caesar and others) state that the "Pretannic" or "Britannic" islands were anciently called "Albion" (Ἀλβίων) or insula Albionum. This may come from the Latin word Albus meaning "white". Welsh chroniclers writing in the 12th Century record the name Y Wen Ynys (meaning The White Island or The Fair Island) as the original name for the country. Some experts assert that Albion is a distortion of the Celtic words Alw-ion meaning something like "beautiful enclosure".

With all this, history becomes legend and legend becomes myth and the further back you go the more sketchy it is!