Albion

See also: Álbion

English

The first European map from a 1552 edition of Ptolemy's Geography, depicting "Hibernia" and "Albion" as known to the Romans.

Etymology

From Middle English Albion, from Latin Albiōn, an Ancient Gallo-Latin name for Britain (Middle Welsh Albbu, Old Irish Albu), from Proto-Celtic *Albiū, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *albʰós (“white”), whence also Latin albus (“white”) and Ancient Greek ἀλφός (alphós, “whiteness, white leprosy”). The primary meaning of the Common Celtic word is "upper world" (as opposed to underworld), with semasiological development similar to e.g. Russian свет (svet, “world; light”).

It is often hypothesised that the Romans took it as connected with albus (“white”), in reference to the white cliffs of Dover.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈælbi.ən/
• (UK, also) IPA^(key): /ˈælbɪən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Proper noun

Albion

1. (now poetic) Great Britain (or sometimes just England or the British Isles).
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, page 160:

     [M]ightie Albion, father of the bold / And warlike people which the Britaine Iſlands hold. / For Albion the ſonne of Neptune was, / Who for the proofe of his great puiſſance, / Out of his Albion did on dry-foot pas / Into old Gall, that now is cleeped France, / To fight with Hercules, that did auance / To vanquiſh all the world with his matchleſſe might, […]

2. Any of several places in the United States:
   1. A census-designated place in Mendocino County, California.
   2. A city, the county seat of Edwards County, Illinois.
   3. A town, the county seat of Noble County, Indiana, also located in Albion Township and Jefferson Township. Named after Albion, New York.
   4. A city, the county seat of Boone County, Nebraska.
   5. A village, the county seat of Orleans County, New York.
   6. A village in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
   7. A town and unincorporated community in Dane County, Wisconsin.
   8. A number of townships in the United States, listed under Albion Township.
3. A suburb of Melbourne in the City of Brimbank, Victoria, Australia
4. Any of a number of football clubs in Great Britain, including West Bromwich Albion F.C., a football club from West Bromwich in the West Midlands, Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., a football club from the city of Brighton and Hove in Sussex, and Stirling Albion F.C., a football club in the city of Stirling in central Scotland.
   • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     The Reds laid siege to the Albion goal throughout, with Jordan Henderson striking the underside of the bar and Dirk Kuyt the inside of the post.

Derived terms

• Albionean
• Albionian
• Albion metal
• New Albion
• Perfidious Albion

Related terms

• Alba (“Scotland”)

Translations

England

• Czech: Albion
• Esperanto: Albiono
• French: Albion (fr) f
• German: Albion (de) n
• Greek: Αλβιόνα f (Alvióna)
• Italian: Albione f
• Polish: Albion (pl) m
• Portuguese: Álbion f
• Russian: Альбио́н (ru) m inan (Alʹbión), (more common) Тума́нный Альбио́н (ru) m inan (Tumánnyj Alʹbión) ("the Foggy Albion")
• Spanish: Albión f
• Swedish: Albion (sv) n

Anagrams

• Bailon, albino, laibon, no bail, no-bail, oliban, on bail

Albanian

Proper noun

Albion m

1. a male given name

Declension

Declension of Albion

	singular
	indefinite	definite
nominative	Albion	Albioni
accusative		Albionin
dative/ablative	Albioni	Albionit

References

• Dražić, Marina, Antić, Ivana, editors (2019), Каталог најчешћих албанских имена и презимена [Catalogue of the most common Albanian names and surnames]‎^[2] (in Serbo-Croatian), page 8

French

Etymology

See the English chapter above.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Paris)):

  (file)

IPA^(key): /al.bjɔ̃/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

Noun

Albion f (uncountable)

1. (poetic, derogatory) England (a constituent country of the United Kingdom)
   • 1793, Augustin Louis de Ximénès, L'Ère des Français:

     « Attaquons dans ses eaux la perfide Albion. »

     "Let us attack perfidious Albion in her waters."

   • 1878, Gustave Flaubert, Correspondances:

     « Et la guerre ? Et les forfanteries de la perfide Albion tournant en eau de boudin ? Farce ! Farce ! »

     "What about war? And what about the conceitedness of the perfidious Albion petering out? What a joke! What a joke!

   • 1982, Yves Martin, Perfide Albion, Saban Records:

     « Perfide Albion je te maudis / Depuis le jour où tu m'as séduit / Je pense à toi en plein Paris / C'est malgré moi j'ai le mal de ton pays

     "Damn you, Perfidious Albion / Since the day you seduced me / I think about you in the middle of Paris / It is in spite of myself that I am homesick for you"

Usage notes

Originally used simply for England, now used more extensively to encompass all The United Kingdom. Used mostly in the expression perfide Albion.

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English Albion.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈal.bjɔn/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -albjɔn
• Syllabification: Al‧bion

Proper noun

Albion m inan

1. (poetic) Albion (England (or sometimes the British Isles))

   mglisty Albion ― foggy Albion

Declension

Declension of Albion

	singular
nominative	Albion
genitive	Albionu
dative	Albionowi
accusative	Albion
instrumental	Albionem
locative	Albionie
vocative	Albionie

Further reading

• Albion in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Swedish

Proper noun

Albion

1. Albion

Anagrams

• albino