British [OE] The Latin word for Britain was Britannia, and its inhabitants were the Brittones. These words gave English Britain and Briton during the Anglo-Saxon period, and Brittany in northern France—settled by Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasion. British originally referred to the ancient Britons or their Celtic language; the later inhabitants, descended from Angles, Saxons, Jutes, and Normans, as well as from the native Celtic peoples, were not described as British until the later Middle Ages. See also english.