Cambria
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{{otheruses|Cambria (disambiguation)}}
'''Cambria''' is the classical name for [[Wales]]. The etymology of ''Cymro'' "Welshman", [[Cimbri]], and ''Cwmry'' "[[Cumbria]]", improbably connected to [[Gomer]] and the "[[Cimmerians]]" by 17th-century celticists, is now known to come from Old Welsh ''combrog'' "compatriot, Welshman"<ref>Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 2002: 321</ref>, deriving from an old [[Brythonic languages|Brythonic]] word "combroges" or Proto-British *''kom-brogos''<ref>Jones, J. Morris. ''Welsh Grammar: Historical and Comparative''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913; new edition, 1995.</ref><ref>Russell, Paul. ''Introduction to the Celtic Languages''. London: Longman, 1995.</ref>, meaning "compatriots", (as a result of the struggle with the [[Anglo-Saxons]]) possibly therefore related to its sister language [[Breton language|Breton]]'s ''keñvroad, keñvroiz'' "compatriot" <ref>Delamarre, Xavier. ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise''. Paris: Errance, 2001.</ref>.
==Cambria in legend==
According to [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]] in the first part of his ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae]]'', the [[Troy|Trojan]] [[Brutus of Troy|Brutus]] had three sons among whom (having subdued [[Gog_and_Magog#Gog_and_Magog_in_Britain|Gogmagog]]) he divided his lands after landing in Britain. His elder son, [[Locrinus]], received the land between the rivers [[Humber]] and [[River Severn|Severn]], which he called ''Loegria'' (a Latinization of the Welsh, ''Lloegr'' "England"). His second son, [[Albanactus]], got the lands beyond the Humber, which took from him the name of [[Alba|Albany]] (''Yr Alban'': [[Scotland]]). The younger son, [[Kamber|Camber]], was bequeathed everything beyond the Severn, which was called after him "Cambria".
This legend was widely prevalent throughout the [[12th century|12th]]-[[16th century|16th]] centuries, but came under serious attack in later times. Today it is no longer generally accepted as historical fact.
==Legacy==
The name "Cambria" lives on in much contemporary literature. It is also used in [[geology]] to denote the [[geologic period]] between around 542 million years and 488.3 million years ago, now known as the [[Cambrian]]; it was in Wales that rocks from this age were first studied.
==References==
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