Editing English Channel (section)

== Names ==
[[Image:Strait of Dover map.png|thumb|right|The [[Strait of Dover]] between [[England]] and [[France]] is the narrowest part of the English Channel, which separates [[Great Britain]] from [[continental Europe]], and marks the boundary between the Channel and the [[North Sea]].]]
[[Roman historiography|Roman sources]] as {{lang|la|Oceanus Britannicus}} (or {{lang|la|Mare Britannicum}}, meaning the Ocean, or the Sea, of the Britons or ''Britannī''). Variations of this term were used by influential writers such as [[Ptolemy]], and remained popular with British and continental authors well into the modern era. Other [[Latin]] names for the sea include {{lang|la|Oceanus Gallicus}} (the Gaulish Ocean) which was used by [[Isidore of Seville]] in the sixth century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morieux |first1=Renaud |title=Une mer pour deux royaumes : La Manche, une mer franco-anglaise |date=2008 |publisher=Presses Universitaires de Rennes |language=French}}</ref>

The term ''British Sea'' is still used by speakers of [[Cornish language|Cornish]] and [[Breton language|Breton]], with the sea known to them as {{lang|kw|Mor Bretannek}} and {{lang|br|Mor Breizh}} respectively. While it is likely that these names derive from the Latin term, it is possible that they predate the arrival of the Romans in the area. The [[modern Welsh]] is often given as {{lang|cy|Môr Udd}} (the Lord's or Prince's Sea); however, this name originally described both the Channel and the [[North Sea]] combined.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Laurentin |first1=Emmanuel |title=La Grande-Bretagne, L'Europe et les Autres (Épisode 4 : Quatre histoires de la Manche) |url=https://www.franceculture.fr/emissions/la-fabrique-de-lhistoire/la-grande-bretagne-leurope-et-les-autres-44-quatre-histoires-de-la-manche |website=France Culture |date=28 March 2019 |access-date=2 December 2021 |language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Anwyl |first1=Edward |title=Wales and the Britons of the North |journal=The Celtic Review |date=1904 |volume=4 |page=144 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6mIGAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>

[[Old English literature|Anglo-Saxon texts]] make reference to the sea as {{lang|ang|Sūð-sǣ}} (South Sea), but this term fell out of favour, as later English authors followed the same conventions as their Latin and Norman contemporaries. One English name that did persist was the ''Narrow Seas'', a collective term for the channel and [[North Sea]]. As England (followed by Great Britain and the United Kingdom) claimed sovereignty over the sea, a Royal Navy Admiral was appointed with maintaining duties in the two seas. The office was maintained until 1822, when several European nations (including the United Kingdom) adopted a {{Convert|3|mi|adj=on|spell=in}} limit to territorial waters.<ref name="oxfordreference_com" />

=== English Channel ===
[[File:Osborne-iow-3Ja10-10876.jpg|thumb|right|[[Osborne House]], the summer retreat of [[Queen Victoria]] on the [[Isle of Wight]]. Starting from the late 18th century, settlements on and around the English Channel coastline in England grew rapidly into thriving [[seaside resort]]s, bolstered by their association with royalty and the middle and upper classes.]]
The word ''channel'' was first recorded in [[Middle English]] in the 13th century and was borrowed from the [[Old French]] word {{lang|fro|chanel}} (a variant form of {{lang|fro|chenel}} 'canal'). By the middle of the fifteenth century, an Italian map based on [[Ptolemy]]'s description named the sea as ''Britanicus Oceanus nunc Canalites Anglie'' (Ocean of the Britons but now English Channel). The map is possibly the first recorded use of the term ''English Channel'' and the description suggests the name had recently been adopted.<ref>{{Cite web |date=26 March 2009 |title=Map of Great Britain, ca. 1450 |url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/m/001hrl000003686u00013000.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103183346/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/unvbrit/m/001hrl000003686u00013000.html |archive-date=3 November 2013 |access-date=1 November 2013 |website=The unveiling of Britain |publisher=[[British Library]] |quote=This may also be the first map to name the English Channel: "{{lang|la|britanicus oceanus nunc canalites Anglie}}" }}</ref>

In the sixteenth century, Dutch maps referred to the sea as the {{lang|nl|Engelse Kanaal}} (English Channel) and by the 1590s, [[William Shakespeare]] used the word ''Channel'' in his history plays of [[Henry VI (play)|Henry VI]], suggesting that by that time, the name was popularly understood by English people.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2012 |title=Buitenlandse Aardrijkskundige Namen |trans-title=Foreign Geographical Names |url=http://taaladvies.net/taal/aardrijkskundige_namen/land/UK |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121122065318/http://taaladvies.net/taal/aardrijkskundige_namen/land/UK |archive-date=22 November 2012 |access-date=1 December 2012 |publisher=Nederlandse Taalunie |language=nl}}</ref>

By the eighteenth century, the name ''English Channel'' was in common usage in [[Kingdom of England|England]]. Following the [[Acts of Union 1707]], this was replaced in official maps and documents with ''British Channel'' or ''British Sea'' for much of the next century. However, the term English Channel remained popular and was finally in official usage by the nineteenth century.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 February 1999 |title=A chart of the British Channel, Jefferys, Thomas, 1787 |url=http://www.davidrumsey.com/maps6489.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523132816/http://www.davidrumsey.com/maps6489.html |archive-date=23 May 2011 |access-date=27 April 2010 |publisher=Davidrumsey.com}}</ref>

=== {{lang|fr|La Manche}} ===
[[File:Carte de la Manche.png|thumb|Map of the channel area with French nomenclature]]
The French name {{lang|fr|la Manche}} has been used since at least the 17th century.<ref name="eb"/> The name is usually said to refer to the sleeve ({{langx|fr|link=no|la manche}}) shape of the Channel. [[Folk etymology]] has derived it from a [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] word meaning 'channel' that is also the source of the name for [[the Minch]] in Scotland,<ref>Room A. ''Placenames of the world: origins and meanings'', p. 6.</ref> but this name is not attested before the 17th century, and French and British sources of that time are clear about its etymology.<ref>Cotgrave R., ''A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues'', London, A. Islip, 1611, art. «&thinsp;Manche&thinsp;».</ref> The name in French has been directly adapted in other languages as either a [[calque]], such as {{langx|it|Canale della Manica|label=none}} in Italian or the ''Ärmelkanal'' in German, or a direct [[loanword|borrowing]], such as {{langx|es|Canal de la Mancha|label=none}} in Spanish.