The word also suggests to me the Anglo-Saxon title "Bretwalda", which at one stage in Anglo-Saxon England was used, in a rather ill-defined way, to designate the supreme wielder of power over the inhabitants of Britain: ie the word might mean Briton-wielder, but also Broad-wielder; cf German "breit" and "Gewalt".

It has been pointed out to me that the meaning of "Bretwalda" as "Britain ruler", "ruler of rulers", "the chief king of Britain" was noted as long ago as 1988 by Priscilla Meyer in "Find What the Sailor has Hidden", page 67; which I had of course read, but had sadly forgotten. "Bot", "bodkin" and a variety of references to this word are also discussed in her most stimulating and original study of Pale Fire.

 

Charles