GREAT BRITAIN. — This name is often applied, by inappropriate extension, both to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland («United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland»), which is a European State, and to the «British Commonwealth», which is the complex of political units, distributed throughout the earth, dependent on and gravitating around the former. Strictly speaking, Great Britain is instead the largest island of the British archipelago, which in turn comprises, along with Scotland (Scotland), England (England), a toponym also used, in a generic sense, as a synonym for Great Britain. The subject will therefore be treated under the heading INGHILTERRA. Cf. also IRLANDA; SCOZIA.
GRAN BRETA GNA
