Fretum Gallicum
Fretum Gallicum is a name which Solinus (100.25, ed. Steph.) gives to the straits which separate Gallia and Britannia. Tacitus (Agric. 100.40) calls it Fretum Oceani.
It is the πορθμὸς Βρετανικός of Strabo (p. 128). Thus, in ancient times, both the countries which it separates gave this narrow sea a name; and it has no general name, for the English call it the Straits of Dover, and the French sometimes Pas de Calais.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.