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I think they'd continue to refer to it as such but to me it feels a little odd. The "United Kingdom" was originally a union of the kingdoms of Scotland and Engl
by smcl 4y ago
I think they'd continue to refer to it as such but to me it feels a little odd. The "United Kingdom" was originally a union of the kingdoms of Scotland and England, the latter having already conquered and absorbed Wales. Losing one former-kingdom of that union and maintaining you're the "United Kingdom" feels a bit dishonest, a little bit "Democratic People's Republic ..." :)
"The Kingdom of England and Wales" makes more sense but "KEW" and "EW" sound odd as acronyms, and will just lead to most of the world referring to the place as "England" (as many in the USA currently do tbh). That is, if they decide to keep the monarchy...
- Wildgoose 4y agoI think it would become simply "Britain", seeing as "Britannia" originally referred to the Roman colonies of England and Wales. "Great Britain" is the whole island (including Scotland). "United Kingdom" would require continued Union with either Scotland or Northern Ireland.
- smcl 4y ago"Britain" or "Kingdom of Britain" is a good idea, I hadn't considered that
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Normille 4y agoTRIVIA CORNER: In Irish Gaelic the island of Great Britain is Breatain Mhór [Big Britain] and Breatain Bheag [Little Britain] is the name for Wales. Obviously coming from the historical fact [much trumpeted by the Welsh] that they were the original Brits, driven into the mountainous west by the Saxon invaders. England in Irish is Sasana [obviously referring to Saxons] thus making an Englishman a Sasanach NOTE: These terms are similar in Scottish Gallic too. Hence the widely known Scots usage of Sasanach as a derogatory term for an English person which, in reality, means calling them a 'Saxon'.
- dane-pgp 4y agoIf we're digging up weird etymological trivia, I will contribute the fact that the old Celtic word Īweriū (from which we get the name Éire) was interpreted by the ancient Greeks as Iouerníā, leading to Tacitus calling the island Hibernia (influenced by the Latin word hībernus, thinking that it meant "land of winter"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernia
- smcl 4y agoI really appreciate these little tangents, got a good couple of “TIL”s from this thread
- synotna 4y agoThe predecessor to the UK before Ireland was the Kingdom of Great Britain, so would be correct to go back to afterwards Of course to save money (and face) it probably wouldn't
- synotna 4y agoUnited Kingdom came from the GB+Ireland, not England & Scotland England + Scotland were the Kingdom of Great Britain
- smcl 4y agoAh good point, but the scenario in question involved both Ireland and Scotland leaving so "Great Britain" doesn't fit either.
- synotna 4y agoIf both leave, then the predecessor to the Kingdom of Great Britain was the Kingdom of England Wales was already part of England, as principality / having been conquered Though "United Kingdom of England" could argue that they kept the Irish crown :)
- smcl 4y agoI feel like "Kingdom of England" would be off the table - you probably wouldn't want to antagonise the Welsh immediately after they just watched NI and Scotland split off :)