Armorica

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historical region in northwestern France encompassing parts of modern Brittany; an ancient name referring to the coastal area inhabited by Gauls before Roman conquest; a general term used in classical antiquity to describe the land bordering the Atlantic Ocean in that locale
2. A territory along the western coast of modern-day France known in antiquity as a Celtic settlement area; the designation for a region occupied by early inhabitants before Roman influence; the ancient geographical term for a portion of northwestern Gaul bordering the ocean
3. An ancient geographical zone covering parts of present-day Brittany notable for its Celtic tribes; a name used in classical history for the area by the Atlantic shore in France; a cultural region identified by its pre-Roman population and coastal location

Etymology: Armorica was the Latin name for the coastal lands of north-western Gaul, the territory that is now Brittany and parts of Normandy. The name was built by the Gauls themselves before the Romans arrived: the Transalpine Gaulish form "Aremorika" combined "are", meaning "in front of" or "by", with "mori", meaning "sea". The name therefore meant "by the sea", a plain description of where the people lived rather than the name of a tribe or king. The same pattern survives in the modern languages of the region. Breton "war vor" and Welsh "ar fôr" both mean "on the sea", using the same elements. The Romans borrowed the Gaulish name directly into Latin, and the spelling "Armorica" that English later took up reflects that Latin form, which is why Middle English could also write "Armorik".