Britain, Greater or Lesser

[Honoria Granger <honoriagranger@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49545

Jazmyn posted:I

>Saying Scotland ia a part of Britain is like saying Wales is Britain
>too.  One assumes that 'Britain' in the books refers to just Britain 
>and not all of Great Britain, or it would state 'Great' Britain.
>I'm just referring to what my maps say the country (and parts 
>thereof)are called.
>
>
I recall from my reading in Celtic legends that in pre-medieval 
times, Brittany (one of the six Celtic nations) was also known 
as "Less Britain" or "Britain the Less", as opposed to Britain 
itself, which was "Great" Britain (the whole island, not just 
England; Scotland and Wales and England itself at that time being 
divided into many small kingdoms and principalities). 
It just means, of course, Big Britain and Small Britain...

And as for the arithmancy thing several folks have mentioned, the 
"-mancy" suffix means "divination". Pyromancy, divination by fire, 
crystallomancy, divination by crystals, and the like. I would hazard 
a guess that arithmancy simply means divination by means of 
numbers...though I do like the idea of a kind of magical 
calculus...maybe that's why Hermione doesn't find it to be "absolute 
rubbish", as she does the other sort of divination...


Honoria Granger
Hermione's Older, Smarter Cousin