=Russia= constituted the country of the Russ, a tribe who overran it at a very early period. The Russian Empire was founded by Ruric, or Rourik, a Scandinavian chief whose death took place in the year A.D., 879. =Circassia= denotes the country of the Tcherkes, a Tartar tribe who settled in the neighbourhood of the river Terck. The =Crimea= received its name from a small town established in the peninsula by the Kimri, or Cymri, and known to the Greeks as _Kimmerikon_. =Finland= is properly Fenland, “the land of marshes.” =Sweden= is a modern term made up of the Latin _Suedia_, signifying the land of the Suevi, a warlike tribe of the Goths, and the Anglo-Saxon _den_, testifying to its occupation by the Danes. Norway shows the result of a gradual modification of the Anglo-Saxon _Norea_, and the original _Nordoe_, being the Scandinavian for “north island.” It is easy to understand in this connection how the old Norsemen, deterred by the intense cold of the Arctic Sea, took it for granted that the great northern peninsula was surrounded by water, without actually determining the fact. The native name of this country in modern times is _Nordrike_, _i.e._, the north kingdom.
=Britain= was known to the Phœnicians as _Barat-Anac_, or “the land of tin,” as far back as the year 1037 B.C. Some five hundred years afterwards the Island was alluded to by the Romans under the name of Britannia, which subsequently became shortened into Britain. =England= was originally _Engaland_, the land of the Engles, or Angles, who came over from Sleswick, a province of Jutland. Prior to the year 258, which witnessed its invasion by the Scoti, a tribe who inhabited the northern portions of the country now known as Ireland, =Scotland= bore the name of =Caledonia=, literally the hilly country of the Caels, or Gaels. The word Cael, or Gael, is a corruption of _Gadhel_, signifying in the native tongue “a hidden rover”; while Scot, derived from the native _scuite_, means practically the same thing, _i.e._, a wanderer. The Caledonians were the inhabitants of the Highlands, the termination _dun_ expressing the Celtic for a hill, fort, stronghold; the Scots were the invaders from =Scotia=, who appropriated the Hebrides and the Western Islands; whereas the Lowlanders were the Picts, so called from their description by the Romans, _picti_, painted men. These Picts were eventually subdued by the Caledonians and Britons from their respective sides. The Gaelic designation of what is now =Ireland= was _Ierne_, indicative of the “western isle.” Ireland is commonly styled =The Emerald Isle= owing to its fresh verdure.