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Title: The River-Names of Europe
Author: Ferguson, Robert, 1817-1898
Language: English
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THE
RIVER-NAMES
OF
EUROPE.
BY ROBERT FERGUSON.
WILLIAMS & NORGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;
AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH,
CARLISLE: R. & J. STEEL.
1862.
PREFACE.
The object of the present work is to arrange and explain the names of
European Rivers on a more comprehensive principle than has hitherto been
attempted in England, or, to the best of my belief, in Germany.
I am conscious that, like every other work of the same sort, it must
necessarily, and without thereby impugning its general system, be
subject to correction in many points of detail. And in particular, that
some of its opinions might be modified or altered by a more exact
knowledge of the characteristics of the various rivers than can possibly
in all cases come within the scope of individual research.
Among the writers to whom I am most indebted is Ernst Förstemann, who,
in the second volume of his Altdeutsches Namenbuch, (the first
consisting of the names of persons), has collected, explained, and where
possible, identified, the ancient names of places in Germany. The dates
affixed to most of the German rivers are taken from this work, and refer
to the earliest mention of the name in charters or elsewhere.
I also refer here, because I find that I have not, as usual, given the
titles elsewhere, to Mr. R. S. Charnock's "Local Etymology," and to the
work of Gluck, entitled "Die bei C. Julius Cæsar vorkommende Keltische
namen."
ROBERT FERGUSON.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
The first wave of Asian immigration that swept over Europe gave names to
the great features of nature, such as the rivers, long before the
wandering tribes that composed it settled down into fixed habitations,
and gave names to their dwellings and their lands. The names thus given
at the outset may be taken therefore to contain some of the most ancient
forms of the Indo-European speech. And once given, they have in many, if
not in most cases remained to the present day, for nothing affords such
strong resistance to change as the name of a river. The smaller streams,
variously called in England and Scotland brooks, becks, or burns, whose
course extended but for a few miles, and whose shores were portioned out
among but a few settlers, readily yielded up their ancient names at the
bidding of their new masters. But the river that flowed past, coming
they knew not whence, and going they knew not whither--upon whose shores
might be hundreds of settlers as well as themselves, and all as much
entitled to give it a name as they--was naturally, as a matter of common
convenience, allowed to retain its original appellation.
Nevertheless, it might happen that a river such as the Danube, which
runs more than a thousand miles as the crow flies--being divided between
two great and perfectly distinct races, might, as it passed through the
two different countries, be called by two different names. So we find
that while in its upper part it was called the Danube, in its lower part
it was known as the Ister--the former, says Zeuss (_Die Deutschen_),
being its Celtic, and the latter its Thracian name. So the Saone also
was anciently known both as the Arar and the Sauconna--the latter,
according to Zeuss, being its Celtic name. And Latham, (_Tacitus_,
_Germania_,) makes a similar suggestion respecting the Rhine--"It is not
likely that the Batavians of Holland, and the Helvetians of Switzerland,
gave the same name to the very different parts of their common river."
It does not follow then as a matter of course--though we must accept it
as the general rule--that the name by which a river is known at the
present day, when it happens to be different from that recorded in
history, is in all cases the less ancient of the two. There might
originally have been two names, one of which has been preserved in
history, and the other retained in modern use.
It is also to be observed, that in the case of one race coming after
another--say Germans or Slaves after Celts--while the newcomers retained
the old names, they yet often added a word of their own signifying water
or river. The result is that many names are compounded of two words of
different languages, and in not a few cases both signifying water.
The names thus given at the outset were of the utmost simplicity,
rarely, if ever, containing a compound idea. They were indeed for the
most part simple appellatives, being most commonly nothing more than
words signifying water. But these words, once established as names,
entered into a different category. The words might perish, but the names
endured. The words might change, but the names did not follow their
changes. Inasmuch as they were both subject to the same influences, they
would most probably in the main be similarly affected by them. But
inasmuch as the names were independent of the language, they would not
be regulated in their changes by it. Moreover, in their case a fresh
element came into operation, for, being frequently adopted by races
speaking a different language, they became subject to the special
phonetic tendencies of the new tongue. The result is that many names,
which probably contained originally the same word, appear in a variety
of different forms. The most important phonetic modifications I take to
be those of the kind referred to in the next chapter.
There is no branch of philological enquiry which demands a wider range
than that of the origin of the names of rivers. All trace of a name may
be lost in the language in which it was given--we may have to seek for
its likeness through the whole Indo-European family--and perhaps not
find it till we come at last to the parent Sanscrit. Thus the name of
the Humber is probably of Celtic origin, but the only cognate words that
we find are the Lat. _imber_ and the Gr. ὄμβρος, till we come to the
Sansc. _ambu_, water. Celtic also probably are the names of the Hodder
and the Otter, but the words most nearly cognate are the Gr. ὕδωρ and
the Lith. _audra_, (fluctus), till we come to the Sansc. _ud_, water.
Again, there are others on which we can find nothing whatever to throw
light till we come to the Sanscrit. Such are the Drave and the Trave,
for which Bopp proposes Sansc. _dravas_, flowing. And the Arve in Savoy,
which I cannot explain till I come to the Sansc. _arb_ or _arv_, to
ravage or destroy, cognate with Lat. _orbo_, Eng. _orphan_, &c. And--far
as we have to seek for it--how true the word is, when found, to the
character of that devastating stream; and how it will come home to the
frequenters of the vale of Chamouni, who well remember how, within the
last few years, its pretty home-steads were rendered desolate, and their
ruined tenants driven out like "orphans" into the world! With such fury
does this stream, when swollen by the melted snows, cast its waters into
the Rhone, that it seems to drive back the latter river into the lake
from whence it issues. And Bullet relates that on one occasion in 1572,
the mills of Geneva driven by the current of the Rhone were made for
some hours to revolve in the opposite direction, and to grind their corn
backwards.
Thus then, though we may take it that the prevailing element in the
river-names of Europe is the Celtic, we must turn for assistance to all
the languages that are cognate. And, for the double reason of their
great antiquity and their great simplicity, we shall often find that the
nearer we come to the fountain-head, the clearer and the more distinct
will be the derivation. It will be seen also throughout the whole of
these pages that, in examining the names of rivers, we must take not
only a wide range of philological enquiry, but also an extensive
comparison of these names one with another.
The first step in the investigation is of course to ascertain, whenever
it is possible, the most ancient forms in which these names are found.
We should scarcely suspect a relationship between our Itchen and the
French Ionne, if we did not know that the ancient name of the one was
Icene, and of the other Icauna. Nor would we suppose that the Rodden of
Shropshire was identical with the French Rhone, did we not know that
the original name of the latter was the Rhodănus.
In this, as in most other departments of philology, the industry of the
Germans has been the most conspicuous. And Ernst Förstemann in
particular, who has extracted and collated the ancient names of places
in Germany up to the 12th cent., has furnished a store of the most
valuable materials.
And yet after all there will be occasions on which all the resources of
philology will be unavailing. Then we can but gather together the
members of the family and wait till science shall reveal us something of
their parentage. Thus the Alme that wanders among the pleasant meads of
Devon--the Alm that flows by the quaint dwellings of the thrifty
Dutch--the Alma that courses through the dark pine forests of the far
North--the Almo that waters the sacred vale of Egeria--and the Alma,
whose name brings sorrow and pride to many an English household--all
contain one wide-spread and forgotten word, at the meaning of which we
can but darkly guess.
CHAPTER II.
ON THE ENDINGS _a_, _en_, _er_, _es_, _et_, _el_.
We find that while there are many names of rivers which contain nothing
more than the simple root from which they are derived, as the Cam, the
Rhine, the Elbe, the Don, &c., there are others which contain the same
root with various endings, of which the principal are _a_, _en_, _er_,
_es_, _et_, _el_. Thus the Roth in Germany, contains a simple root; the
Roth(a), Roth(er), and Rodd(en) in England, and the Röt(el) in Germany,
contain the same with four different endings. The German Ise shows a
simple root, and the Germ. Is(ar), Is(en), Eng. Is(is), Dutch Yss(el),
Russ. Iss(et), shew the same with five different endings. So we have in
England the Tame, the Tam(ar), and the Tham(es), &c. The question
is--what is the value and meaning of these various additions?
With respect to the ending in _a_, found in some English rivers, there
is reason to think that it is a word signifying water--the Old Norse
_â_, Goth. _ahva_, Lat. _aqua_, &c. So that the _a_ in Rotha may be the
same as the _a_ in the Norwegian Beina and the Swedish Tornea--as the
_au_ in the Germ. Donau (Danube)--and as the _ava_ in the Moldava of
Austrian Poland.
Others of these endings have by different writers been supposed to be
also words signifying water. Thus Donaldson (_Varronianus_), takes the
ending _es_ to have that meaning. And Förstemann, though more
cautiously, makes the same suggestion for the termination _ar_ or _er_.
"I allow myself here the enquiry whether possibly the river-names which
contain an _ar_ as the concluding part of the word may not be compounded
with this unknown word for a river; to assume a simple suffix seems to
me in this case rather niggardly." So also the ending _en_ has been
supposed by some of our own Celtic scholars, as Armstrong and O'Brien,
to be the same as the Welsh _aven_, Gael. _amhainn_, water or river, an
opinion which has also, though to a more limited extent, received the
sanction of Pott.
There are various minor objections to the above theories which I forbear
to urge, because I think that the main argument against them is to be
found in the manner in which these endings run through the whole
European system of river-names. And it seems to me therefore more
reasonable to refer them to a general principle which pervades the
Indo-European languages, than to a particular word of a particular
language. The principle I refer to is that of phonetic accretion, and it
is that upon which the above word _aven_ or _amhainn_, is itself formed
from a simple root, by one of the very endings in question, that in
_en_. Instead then of explaining--as the followers of the above system
have done--the Saone (Sagonna) by the Celt. _sogh-an_, "sluggish river",
I prefer to point to the general principle upon which the root _sogh_
has the power, so to speak, of making itself into _soghan_ (_e.g._, in
Lat. _segn-is_.)
Not but that the principle contended for by the above writers may obtain
in some cases: the Garumna, ancient name of the Garonne, looks like one
of them, though even in this case I think that the latter may be the
proper form, and the former only a euphonism of the Latin poets: the
geographers, as Ptolemy, call it Garunna.
Then again the question arises whether, seeing that _en_ and _es_ in the
Celtic tongues, and _el_ in the Germanic, have the force of diminution,
this may not be the meaning in the names of rivers. Zeuss, (_Die
Deutschen_), suggests this in the case of the Havel and the Moselle; but
seeing that one of these rivers has a course of 180 and the other of 265
miles, I think they might rather be adduced to prove that these endings
are not diminutive. We may cite also the Yssel and the Albula (Tiber),
both large rivers, with this ending. While in Germany we have two
rivers close together, the great and little Arl, (anc. Arla, or
Arila)--here seems the very case for a diminutive, yet both rivers have
the same ending. Not but that there are instances of a diminutive in
river-names, but they seem of later formation. Thus there is no reason
to doubt that the French Loiret, which is a small river falling into the
large one, means "the little Loire." Etymology in this case is in
perfect accord with the facts.
Upon the whole, then, I am inclined to the opinion, which seems in the
main that of Förstemann, that, at least as the general rule, these
endings are simply phonetic, and that they have no meaning whatever. In
our own and the cognate languages, _en_ is the principal phonetic
particle--_e.g._, English bow, Germ. bog_en_--Germ. rabe, Eng.
rav_en_--Lat. virgo, Fr. vierge, Eng. virg_in_. But we have also traces
in English of a similar phonetic _er_, (_see Latham's Handbook of the
Eng. Language, p. 199_). The general reader will understand better what
is here intended by comparing our words maid and maid_en_. Between these
two words there is not the slightest shade of difference as regards
meaning--the ending _en_ is merely added for the sake of the sound, or,
in other words, it is phonetic. Just the same difference then that there
is between our words maid and maiden I take to be between the names of
our rivers Lid and Lidden. The ending in both cases serves, if I may use
the expression, to give a sort of finish to the word.
The question then arises--supposing these endings to be phonetic--were
they given in the first instance, or have they accrued in after times?
It is probable that both ways might obtain; indeed we have some evidence
to shew that the latter has sometimes been the case. Thus the Medina in
the Isle of Wight was once called the Mede, and the Shannon of Ireland
stands in Ptolemy as the Senus. On the other hand cases are more
frequent in which the ending has been dropped. Thus the Yare is called
by Ptolemy the Garrhuenus, _i.e._, the Garron or Yarron. And the Teme
appears in Anglo-Saxon charters as the Taméde or Teméde. Indeed the
Thames itself would almost seem, by having become a monosyllable, to
have taken the first step of a change which has been arrested for ever.
So in Germany the Bille, Ohm, Orre, and Bordau, appear in charters of
the 8th and 9th cent., as the Bilena, Amana, Oorana, and Bordine. And in
France the Isara and the Oscara have in modern times become respectively
the Oise and the Ousche; in both these two cases the ending _er_ has
been dropped; for Oise=_is_, not _isar_; and Ousche=_osc_, not _oscar_.
This latter principle is indeed only in accordance with the general
tendency of language towards what Max Müller terms "phonetic decay"--a
principle which seems less active in the rude than in the cultivated
stages of society. It would appear as if civilization sought to
compensate itself for the increased requirements of its expression, by
the simplification of its forms, and the rejection of its superfluous
sounds.
Upon the whole then I think that as the general rule these endings have
been given in the first instance, and that they have but rarely accrued
in after times. Such being the case, though in one point of view they
may be called phonetic, as adding nothing to the sense, yet in another
point of view they may be called formative, as being the particles by
means of which words are constructed out of simple roots. And of the
names in the following pages, a great part, in some language, or in some
dialect, are still living words. And those that are not, are formed
regularly upon the same principle, common to the Indo-European system.
CHAPTER III.
ON THE MEANING OF RIVER-NAMES.
The names of rivers may be divided into two classes, appellative and
descriptive--or in other words, into those which describe a river simply
as "the water" or "the river," and those which refer to some special
quality or property of its own.
In the case of a descriptive name we may be sure that it has been
given--not from any fine-drawn attribute, but from some obvious
characteristic--not from anything which we have to seek, but from
something which, as the French say, "saute aux yeux." If a stream be
very rapid and impetuous--if its course be winding and tortuous--if its
waters be very clear or very turbid--these are all marked features which
would naturally give it a name.
But such derivations as the following from Bullet can only serve to
provoke a smile. Thus of the Wandle in Surrey he says--"Abounding in
excellent trouts--_van_, good, _dluz_, a trout." (I much fear that the
"excellent trouts" have been made for the derivation, and not the
derivation for the trouts.) Of the Irt in Cumberland he says--"Pearls
are found in this river. Irt signifies surprising, prodigious,
marvellous." Marvellous indeed! But Bullet, though nothing can be more
childish than many of his etymological processes, has the merit of at
least taking pains to find out what is actually the notable feature in
each case under consideration, a point which the scholarly Germans
sometimes rather neglect.
River-names, in relation to their meaning, may be ranked under seven
heads.
1. Those which describe a river simply as "the water," "the river."
Parallel with this, and under the same head, we may take the words
which describe a river as "that which flows," because the
root-meaning of most of the words signifying water is, that which
flows, that which runs, that which goes. Nevertheless, there may
be sometimes fine shades of difference which we cannot now
perceive, and which would remove the names out of this class into
the next one.
2. Those which, passing out of the appellative into the descriptive,
characterize a river as that which runs violently, that which
flows gently, or that which spreads widely.
3. Those which describe a river by the nature of its course, as
winding, crooked, or otherwise.
4. Those which refer to the quality of its waters, as clear, bright,
turbid, or otherwise.
5. Those which refer to the sound made by its waters.
6. Those which refer to the nature of its source, or the manner of its
formation, as by the confluence of two or more streams.
7. Those which refer to it as a boundary or as a protection.
Under one or other of the above heads may be classed the greater part of
the river-names of Europe.
And how dry and unimaginative a list it is! We dive deep into the
ancient language of Hindostan for the meaning of words, but we recall
none of the religious veneration to the personified river which is so
strikingly manifest even to the present day. As we read in the Vedas of
three thousand years ago of the way-farers supplicating the spirit of
the stream for a safe passage, so we read in the newspapers of to-day of
the pilgrims, as the train rattled over the iron bridge, casting their
propitiatory offerings into the river below. We seek for word-meanings
in the classical tongue of Greece, but they come up tinged with no
colour of its graceful myths. Few and far between are the cases--and
even these are doubtful, to say the least--in which anything of fancy,
of poetry, or of mythology, is to be traced in the river-names of
Europe.
CHAPTER IV.
APPELLATIVES.
The great river of India, which has given its name to that country, is
derived from Sansc. _sindu_, Persian _hindu_, water or sea. It was known
to the ancients under its present name 500 years B.C. Another river of
Hindostan, the Sinde, shews more exactly the Sansc. form, as the Indus
does the Persian. It will be seen that there are some other instances of
this word in the ancient or modern river-names of Europe.
1. _India._ The INDUS and the SINDE.
_Asia Minor._ INDUS ant., now the Tavas.
_France._ INDIS ant., now the Dain.
_Germany._ INDA, 9th cent. The INDE near Aix-la-Chapelle.
_Norway._ The INDA.
2. _With the ending er._
_France._ The INDRE. Joins the Loire.
The most widely spread root is the Sansc. _ap_, Goth. _ahva_, Old High
Germ. _aha_, Old Norse _â_, Ang.-Sax. _ea_, Lat. _aqua_, &c. With the
form _ahva_ Fürst connects Ahava as the name of a river in the district
of Babylon, mentioned in Ezra, chap. 8, v. 21--"Then I proclaimed a fast
there at the river of Ahava." But from the 15th verse it would rather
seem that Ahava was a place and not a river--"and I gathered them
together to the river that _runneth_ to Ahava." The place might
certainly, as in many other cases, take its name from the river on which
it stood, but this is one step further into the dark. From the root _ab_
or _ap_ is formed Latin _amnis_, a river, corresponding, as Diefenbach
suggests, with a Sansc. _abnas_. Also the Celt. _auwon_, _avon_,
_abhain_, or _amhain_, of the same meaning, from the simple form found
in Obs. Gael. _abh_, water. The Old German _aha_, _awa_, _ava_, or
_afa_, signifying water or river, is added to many names of that country
which are themselves probably of Celtic or other origin; the form in
Modern German is generally _ach_ or _au_. The ending in _a_ of some
English rivers, as the Rotha, Bratha, &c., I have already suggested,
chapter 3, may be from the same origin; this form corresponds most
nearly with the Scandinavian. There are one or two, as the Caldew in
Cumberland, which seem to show the Germ. form _au_ or _ow_. The ending
_ick_ or _ock_ in several Scotch rivers, as the Bannock and the Errick,
may be from a word of similar meaning, most probably the obs. Gael.
_oich_.
I divide the widely spread forms from this root for convenience into two
groups, _ap_ or _av_, and _ach_ or _ah_. The relation between the
consonants is shown in the Gr. ἵππος, Lat. _equus_, Ang.-Sax. _eoh_,
horse, three words similarly formed from one root. The European names in
the following group I take to be most probably from the Celtic--the
Asiatic, if they come in, must be referred to the Sanscrit, or a kindred
and coeval tongue.
1. _England._ The IVE. Cumberland.
_Portugal._ The AVIA.
_Germany._ IPFA, 8th cent., now the IPF--here?
_Asia Minor._ HYPIUS ant.--here?
2. _With the ending en = Celtic auwon, avon, abhain, amhain, Lat. amnis._
_England._ The AVON and EVAN. Many rivers in England, Scotland,
and Wales.
_Scotland._ The AMON, near Edinburgh, also, but less correctly,
called the ALMOND.
_France._ The AVEN. Dep. Finistère.
_Germany._ AMANA, 8th cent., now the OHM.
_Hindostan._ HYPANIS ant., now the Sutledge--here?
_Asia Minor._ EVENUS ant., now the Sandarli--here? AMNIAS ant.,
probably here.
_Syria._ ABANA ant., now the Barrada--here?
3. _With the ending er._
_France._ The AVRE. Dep. Eure.
_Germany._ IVARUS, 2nd cent., now the Salzach. EPAR(AHA), 8th
cent., now the EBR(ACH).
_Spain._ IBERUS ant., now the EBRO.
_Thrace._ HEBRUS ant., now the Maritza.
4. _With the ending el._
_England._ The IVEL.[1] Somers.
_Germany._ APULA, 9th cent. The APPEL(BACH).
_Hungary._ The IPOLY or EYPEL. Joins the Danube.
5. _With the ending es._[2]
_Germany._ IBISA, 8th cent. The IPS.
_Portugal._ The AVIZ.
_Sicily._ HYPSAS ant., now the Belici.
_Illyria._ APSUS ant., now the Beratinos.
A related form to No. 2 of the above group I take to be _ain_ = Manx
_aon_ for _avon_.
_England._ The AUNE, Devonshire. The EHEN, Cumberland. The INNEY,
Cornwall.
_Germany._ The AENUS of Tacitus, now the INN. The IHNA, Prussia.
_Greece._ OENUS ant.--here?
And I place here also a form _annas_, which I take to be = Sansc.
_abnas_, Latin _amnis_.
_India._ The ANNAS. Gwalior.
_Germany._ ANISA, 8th cent. The ENS in Austria.
_Piedmont._ The ANZA. Joins the Tosa.
In the other form _ah_, _ach_, there may be more admixture of the German
element. But the English names, I take it, are all Celtic. The form
_ock_ comes nearest to the obs. Gael. _oich_.
1. _England._ The OCK, Berks. The OKE, Devon.
_Scotland._ The OICH, river and lake. The AWE, Argyle. The EYE,
Berwicks.
_France._ The AA. Dep. Nord.
_Germany._ The AACH and the AU.
_Holland._ The AA in Brabant.
_Russia._ The OKA and the AA.
2. _With the ending el._
_Scotland._ The OIKELL. Sutherland.
_Germany._ AQUILA, 8th cent., now the EICHEL.
With the Sanscrit root _ab_ or _ap_ is to be connected Sanscrit _ambu_,
_ambhas_, water, whence Latin _imber_ and Gr. ὄμβρος. If the Abus of
Ptolemy was the name of the river Humber, it contains the oldest and
simplest form of the root. But the river is called the Humbre in the
earliest Ang.-Sax. records. I class in this group also the forms in _am_
and _em_.
1. _England._ The EMME. Berkshire.
_Switzerland._ The EMME.
_Holland._ EMA, 10th ct., now the EEM--here?
_Sweden._ The UMEA.
_Asia._ The EMBA, also called the Djem.
2. _With the ending en._
_Switzerland._ The EMMEN. Two rivers.
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The HUMBER. Humbre, _Cod. Dip._
The AMBER. Derbyshire.
_Germany._ AMBRA, 8th cent., now the AMMER, and the EMMER.
_Italy._ UMBRO ant., now the OMBRONE.
4. _With the ending el._
_England._ The AMBLE or HAMBLE. Hants.
The AMELE or EMELE, now the Mole, in Surrey.
_Germany._ The HAMEL. Hanover.
_Belgium._ AMBL(AVA), 9th cent., now the AMBL(ÈVE).
5. _With the ending es, perhaps = Sansc. ambhas, water._
_England._ The HAMPS. Stafford.
_France._ The AMASSE. Joins the Loire.
_Germany._ AMISIA, 1st cent. The EMS in Westphalia.
EMISA, 8th cent. The EMS in Nassau.
6. _With the ending st._[3]
_Asia._ AMBASTUS ant. Now the Camboja.
The whole of the above forms are to be traced back to the Sanscrit verb
_ab_ or _amb_, signifying to move; and that probably to a more simple
verb _â_. The Old Norse _â_, Ang.-Sax. _eâ_, water or river, contain
then a root as primitive as language can show. We can resolve it into
nothing simpler--we can trace it back to nothing older. And it is
curious to note how the Latin _aqua_ has, in the present French word
_eau_, come round again once more to its primitive simplicity. Curious
also to note to what phonetic proportions many of the words, as the
Avon, the Humber, &c., have grown, and yet without adding one particle
of meaning, as I hold, to the primeval _â_.
The root of the following group seems to be Sansc. _ux_ or _uks_, to
water, whence Welsh _wysg_, Irish _uisg_, Old Belg. _achaz_, water or
river. Hence also Eng. _ooze_, and according to Eichoff (_Parrallele des
langues_), also _wash_.
1. _England._ The AXE, Devon. The AXE, Somers.
The ASH, Wilts. _Cod. Dip._ ASCE.
The ISACA, or ISCA (Ptolemy). The EXE.
The ESK, Cumb. ESKE, Yorks.
The ESK, in Scotland, five rivers.
The USK, in Monmouthshire.
_France._ The ISAC. Dep. Mayenne.
The ESQUE. Normandy.
The ACHASE. Dauphiné.
_Germany._ ACHAZA, 10th cent., now the ESCHAZ.
ACARSE,[4] 11th cent., now the AXE.
The AHSE. Prussia.
_Mœsia._ ŒSCUS ant.
_Asia._ ACES ant. (Herodotus), now the OXUS or Amou.
_Greece._ AXIUS ant., now the Vardar in Macedon.[5] AXUS or
OAXES in Crete, still retains its name.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ AXONA ant. (Cæsar.) Now the AISNE.
_Asia._ ASCANIA ant. Two lakes, one in Phrygia, and the other
in Bithynia.
3. _With the ending el._
_England._ UXELLA ant., (Richard of Cirencester), supposed to be
the Parret.
The ESKLE, Hereford.
_Germany._ ISCALA, 8th cent. The ISCHL.
_Russia._ The OSKOL. Joins the Donetz.
4. _With the ending er._
_France._ OSCARA ant., now the OUSCHE.
_Belgium._ HISSCAR, 9th cent., seems not to be identified.
I am inclined to bring in here the root _is_, respecting which
Förstemann observes that it is "a word found in river-names over a great
part of Europe, but the etymology of which is as yet entirely unknown."
I connect it with the above group, referring also to the Old Norse _is_
motus, _isia_, proruere, as perhaps allied. I feel an uncertainty about
bringing the name OUSE either in this group or the last, for two at
least of the rivers so called are so very tortuous in their course as to
make us think of the Welsh _osgo_, obliquity.
1. _Germany._ The ISE and the EIS(ACH).
_Syria._ ISSUS ant., now the Baias--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ ISANA, 8th cent. The ISEN.
3. _With the ending er._
_France._ ISARA, 1st cent. B.C. The ISÈRE and the OISE.[6]
_Germany._ ISARA ant. The ISAR.
4. _With the ending el._
_Scotland._ The ISLA. Two rivers.
_France._ The ISOLÉ.
_Holland._ ISELA, 8th cent., now the YSSEL.
_Spain._ The ESLA.
5. _With the ending es._
_England._ The ISIS, vulg. Ouse.
6. _With the ending et._
_Siberia._ The ISSET. Joins the Tobol.
7. _In a compound form._
The ISTER, or Danube, perhaps = IS-STER, from a word _ster_, a river,
hereafter noticed.
ISMENUS ant., in Bœotia. The ending seems to be from a Celt. word
_man_ or _mon_, probably signifying water or river, and found in
several other names, as the Idumania of Ptolemy, now the
Blackwater, the Alcmona of Germany, now the Altmühl, the Haliacmon
of Macedonia, now the Vistritza, &c.
HESUDROS, the ancient name of the Sutledge (Sansc. _udra_, water),
may also come in.
From the Sansc. _ud_, water--in comp. _udra_, as in _samudra,_ the sea,
_i.e._, collection of waters, (see also Hesudros above)--come Sansc.
_udon_, Gr. ὕδωρ, Slav. _woda_, Goth. _wato_, Germ. _wasser_, Eng.
_water_, Lith. _audra_, fluctus, &c.
1. _Italy._ ADUA ant., now the ADDA.
_Bohemia._ The WAT(AWA).
2. _With the ending en = Sansc. udon, water?_
_France._ The ODON.
_Germany._ ADEN(OUA), 10th cent., now the ADEN(AU).
3. _With the ending er = Germ. wasser, Eng. water, &c._
_England._ The ODDER and the OTTER.
The WODER, Dorset. Woder, _Cod. Dip._
The ADUR in Sussex.
The VEDRA of Ptolemy, now the Wear, according to
Pott, comes in here.
_France._ ATURUS ant., now the ADOUR.
AUDURA ant., now the EURE.
_Germany._ ODORA ant., now the ODER.
WETTER(AHA), 8th cent., now the WETTER.[7]
4. _With the ending rn._[8]
_Germany._ ADRANA, 1st cent., now the EDER.
_Asia Minor._ The EDRENOS. Anc. Rhyndacus.
5. _With the ending el._
_Russia._ The VODLA. Lake and river.
To the above root I also put a form in _ed_, corresponding with Welsh
_eddain_, to flow, Ang.-Sax. _edre_, a water-course, &c.
1. _With the ending en._
_England._ The EDEN. Cumberland. Probably the Ituna of Ptolemy.
_Scotland._ The EDEN and the YTHAN.
_France._ The ITON. Joins the Eure.
2. _With the ending er._
_Scotland._ The ETTR(ICK). Joins the Tweed.
_Germany._ EITER(AHA), 8th cent. The EITR(ACH)[9], the EITER(ACH),
and the AITER(ACH).
_Denmark._ EIDORA ant., now the EIDER.
3. _With the ending el._
_England._ The IDLE. Notts.
4. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ IDASA, 11th cent., now the ITZ.
With the above may perhaps also be classed the Celtic _and_ or
_ant_,[10] to which Mone, (_Die Gallische sprache_), gives the meaning
of water.
1. _England._ The ANT. Norfolk.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The ANTON.[11] Hants.
3. _With the ending er._
_France._ ANDRIA ant. Now the Lindre.
4. _With the ending el._
_France._ The ANDELLE. Joins the Seine.
_Germany._ ANTIL(AHA), 10th cent., now the ANDEL(AU).
To the Celt. _dubr_, Welsh _dwfr_, water, are by common consent referred
the names in the second division of the undermentioned. But the forms
_dub_, _duv_, which in accordance with the general system here
advocated, I take to be the older and simpler form of the word, are, by
Zeuss (_Gramm. Celt._), as well as most English writers, referred to
Welsh _du_, Gael. _dubh_, black.
1. _England._ The DOVE. Staffordshire.
The DOW. Yorkshire.
_Wales._ TOBIUS ant., now the TOWY.
The DOVY, Merioneth.
_France._ DUBIS ant., now the DOUBS.
The DOUX, joins the Rhine.
2. _With the ending er, forming the Celtic dubr, Welsh dwfr._[12]
_Ireland._ DOBUR ant., retains its name.[13]
_France._ The TOUVRE.
_Germany._ DUBRA, 8th cent., now the TAUBER.
The DAUBR(AWA), Bohemia.
3. _With the ending es._
_Russia._ The DUBISSA.
Another Celtic word for water is _dur_, which, however, seems more
common in the names of towns (situated upon waters) than in the names of
rivers. Is this word formed by syncope from the last, as _duber_ =
_dur_? Or is it directly from the root of the Sansc. _drâ_ or _dur_, to
move?
1. _England._ The DURRA. Cornwall.
_Germany._ Δοῦρας, Strabo, now the Iller or the Isar.
_Switz._ DURA, 9th cent. The THUR.[14]
_Italy._ DURIA ant., now the DORA.
TURRUS ant., now the TORRE.
_Spain._ DURIUS ant., now the DOURO.
_Russia._ The TURA. Siberia.
The TURIJA. Russ. Poland.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ DURANIUS ant., now the DORDOGNE.
In this chapter is to be included the root _ar_, respecting which I
quote the following remarks of Förstemann. "The meaning of river, water,
must have belonged to this wide-spread root, though I never find it
applied as an appellative, apart from the obsolete Dutch word _aar_,
which Pott produces. I also nowhere find even an attempt to explain the
following river-names from any root, and know so little as scarcely to
make a passing suggestion; even the Sanscrit itself shows me no likely
word approaching it, unless perhaps we think of _ara_, swift
(_Petersburger Wörterbuch_)."
The root, I apprehend, like that of most other river-names, is to be
found in a verb signifying to move, to go--the Sansc. _ar_, _ir_ or
_ur_, Lat. _ire_, _errare_, &c. And we are not without an additional
trace of the sense we want, as the Basque has _ur_, water, _errio_, a
river, and the Hung. has _er_, a brook. The sense of swiftness, as
found in Sansc. _ara_, may perhaps intermix in the following names. But
there is also a word of precisely opposite meaning, the Gael. _ar_,
slow, whence Armstrong, with considerable reason, derives the name of
the Arar (or Saone), a river noted above all others for the slowness of
its course. Respecting this word as a termination see page 11.
1. _England._ The ARROW, Radnor. The ARROW, Worcester.
The ORE. Joins the Alde.
_Ireland._ ARROW, lake and river, Sligo.
_France._ The AURAY. Dep. Morbihan.
_Germany._ ARA, 8th cent. The AHR, near Bonn, the OHRE,
which joins the Elbe, and the OHRE in
Thuringia, had all the same ancient name of
Ara.
UR(AHA), 10th cent., now the AUR(ACH).
_Switzerland._ ARA, ant. The AAR.
_Italy._ The ERA. Joins the Arno.
_Spain._ URIUS ant., now the Rio Tinte.
_Russia._ OARUS (Herodotus), perhaps the Volga.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The ARUN, Sussex.
_Scotland._ The ORRIN and the EARNE.
_Ireland._ The ERNE, Ulster.
_Germany._ OORANA, 8th cent., now the ORRE.
ARN(APE), 8th cent., (_ap_, water), now the ERFT.
The OHRN. Wirtemberg.
_Tuscany._ ARNUS ant. The ARNO.
3. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ ERL(AHA), 11th cent. The ERLA.
URULA, 9th cent. The ERL.
ARLA, 10th cent. The ARL.
The ORLA. Joins the Saale.
_Savoy._ The ARLY.
_Aust. Slavonia._ The ORLY(AVA).
_Russia._ The URAL and the ORL(YK).
From _ar_ and _ur_, to move, the Sanscrit forms _arch_ and _urj_, with
the same meaning, but perhaps in a rather more intense degree, if we may
judge by some of the derivatives, as Lat. _urgeo_, &c. In two of the
three appellatives which I find, the Basque _erreca_, brook, and the
Lettish _urga_, torrent, we may trace this sense; but in the third,
Mordvinian (a Finnish dialect), _erke_, lake, it is altogether wanting.
And on the whole, I cannot find it borne out in the rivers quoted
below. Perhaps the Obs. Gael. _arg_, white, which has been generally
adduced as the etymon of these names, may intermix.
1. _England._ The ARKE. Yorkshire.
The IRK. Lancashire.
_France._ The OURCQ. Dep. Aisne.
The ORGE and the ARC.
_Belgium._ The HERK. Prov. Limburg.
_Sardinia._ The ARC. Joins the Isère.
_Spain._ The ARGA. Joins the Aragon.
_Armenia._ ARAGUS ant., now the ARAK.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ ARGUNA, 8th cent. The ARGEN.
_Russia._ The ARGUN. Two rivers.
_Spain._ The ARAGON. Joins the Ebro.
3. _With the ending et._
_Siberia._ The IRKUT. Joins the Angara.
4. _With the ending es._
_France._ The ARQUES.
_Russia._ The IRGHIZ. Two rivers.
5. _With the ending enz._[15]
_Germany._ ARGENZA, 9th cent., now the ERGERS.
From the Sansc. _ri_, to flow, Gr. ῥεω, Lat. _rigo_ (often applied to
rivers--"Qua Ister Getas rigat," _Tibullus_), Sansc. _rinas_, fluid, Old
Sax. _rîha_, a torrent, Ang.-Sax. _regen_, Eng. _rain_, Slav. _rêka_, a
stream, Welsh _rhe_, rapid, _rhean_, _rhen_, a stream, &c., we get the
following group. The river Regen Berghaus derives from Germ. _regen_,
rain, in reference to the unusual amount of rain-fall which occurs in
the Böhmer-wald, where it has its source. Butmann derives it from Wend.
and Slav. _rêka_, a stream, connecting its name also with that of the
Rhine. Both these derivations I think rather too narrow.
With respect to the Rhine I quote the following opinions. Armstrong
derives it from Celt. _reidh-an_, a smooth water, than which nothing can
be more unsuitable--the characteristic of the river, as noticed by all
observers, from Cæsar and Tacitus downwards--being that of rapidity.
Donaldson compares it with Old Norse _renna_, fluere, and makes Rhine =
Anglo-Saxon _rin_, cursus aquæ. Grimm (_Deutsch. Gramm._) compares it
with Goth. _hrains_, pure, clear, and thinks that "in any case we must
dismiss the derivation from _rinnan_, fluere." Zeuss and Förstemann
support the opinion of Grimm; nevertheless, all three agree in thinking
that the name is of Celtic origin. The nearest word, as it seems to me,
is Welsh _rhean_, _rhen_, a stream, cognate with Sansc. _rinas_, fluid,
Old Norse _renna_, fluere, and (as I suppose), with Goth. _hrains_,
pure.
1. _England._ The REA. Worcester.
The WREY. Devonshire.
_Ireland._ The RYE. Joins the Liffey.
_Germany._ The REGA. Pomerania.
_Holland._ The REGGE. Joins the Vecht.
_Spain._ The RIGA. Pyrenees.
_Russia._ RHA ant., now the Volga.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ REGIN, 9th cent. The REGEN.
RHENUS, 1st cent. B.C. The RHINE.
The RHIN. Joins the Havel.
The RHINE. A small stream near Cassel.
_Norway._ The REEN.
_Italy._ The RENO by Bologna.
_Asiat. Russ._ The RHION, ant. Phasis.
The Sansc. _lî_, to wet, moisten, spreads into many forms through the
Indo-European languages. I divide them for convenience into two groups,
and take first Lat. _liqueo_, Old Norse _leka_, Ang.-Sax. _lecan_
(stillare, rigare), Gael. and Ir. _li_, sea, Gael. _lia_, Welsh _lli_,
_llion_, a stream. Most of the following names, I take it, are Celtic. I
am not sure that the sense of stillness or clearness does not enter
somewhat into the two following groups.
1. _England._ The LEE. Cheshire.
The LEACH. Gloucestershire.
_Ireland._ The LEE. Two rivers.
_Germany._ LICUS, 2nd cent., now the LECH.
LIA, 8th cent., now the LUHE.
_France._ LEGIA, 10th cent., now the LYS.[16]
_Belgium._ The LECK. Joins the Maas.
_Hindostan._ The LYE. Bengal.
2. _With the ending en = Welsh llion, a stream._
_England._ The LEEN. Notts.
_Scotland._ The LYON and the LYNE.
_France._ The LIGNE. Dep. Ardéche.
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The LEGRE by Leicester, now the Soar.
_France._ LIGER ant. The LOIRE.
The LEGRE. Dep. Gironde.
For the second group I take Lat. _lavo_, _luo_, Old Norse _lauga_,
lavare, Anglo-Saxon _lagu_, water, Gael. _lo_, water, Gael. and Ir.
_loin_, stream. In this group there may perhaps be something more of the
Germain element, _e.g._, in the rivers of Scandinavia.
1. _England._ The LUG. Hereford.
_Wales._ The LOOE. Two rivers.
_France._ The LOUE. Dep. Haute Vienne.
_Germany._ LOUCH(AHA), 11th cent. The LAUCHA.
LOUA, 10th cent., not identified.
_Holland._ The LAVE.
_Finland._ The LUGA or LOUGA.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The LUNE. Lancashire.
The LAINE. Cornwall.
The LEVEN. Two rivers.
_Scotland._ The LEVEN. Two rivers.
_Ireland._ The LAGAN, near Belfast.
_France._ LUNA ant., now the LOING.
_Germany._ LOGAN(AHA), 8th cent., now the LAHN.
The LOWNA in Prussia.
_Norway._ The LOUGAN. Joins the Glommen.
The LOUVEN. Stift Christiana.
_Russia._ The LUGAN.
_Italy._ The LAVINO.
The lake LUGANO.
_India._ The LOONY--here?
3. _With the ending er._
_Scotland._ The LUGAR. Ayr.
_Wales._ The LLOUGHOR. Glamorgan.
To the above root I also place the following, corresponding more
distinctly with Welsh _llifo_, to pour.
1. _Ireland._ The LIFFEY by Dublin.
_Germany._ LUPPIA, 1st cent. The LIPPE.
The LIP(KA). Bohemia.
2. _With the ending er._
_England._ The LIVER. Cornwall.
_Scotland._ The LIVER. Argyle.
_Ireland._ The LIFFAR.
More remotely with the Sansc. _lî_, liquere, and directly with Welsh
_lleithio_, to moisten, _llyddo_, to pour, Gael. _lith_, a pool, smooth
water, Goth. _leithus_, Ang.-Sax. _lidh_, liquor, poculum, potus, I
connect the following. The rivers themselves hardly seem to bear out the
special idea of smoothness, which we might be apt to infer from the
root, and from the character of the mythological river Lethe.
1. _England._ The LID. Joins the Tamar.
_Scotland._ The LEITH. Co. Edinburgh.
_Wales._ The LAITH, now called the Dyfr.
_Germany._ LIT(AHA), 11th cent. The LEITHA.
_Sweden._ The LIDA.
_Hungary._ The LEITHA. Joins the Danube.
_Asia Minor._}
_Thessaly._ } LETHÆUS ant., three rivers--here?
_Crete._ }
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The LIDDEN (Leden, _Cod. Dip._) Worcester.
_Scotland._ The LEITHAN. Peebles.
3. _With the ending el._
_Scotland._ The LIDDLE. Joins the Esk.
From the Sansc. _nî_, to move, comes _nîran_, water, corresponding with
the Mod. Greek νερόν of the same meaning. And that the Greek word is
no new importation into that language, we may judge by the name of
Nereus, a water-god, the son of Neptune. The Gr. ναω, fluo, the Gael.
_nigh_, to bathe, to wash, and the Obs. Gael. _near_, water, a river,
show a close relationship; the Heb. _nhar_, a river, also seems to be
allied. Compare the Nore, a name given to part of the estuary of the
Thames, with the Narra, the name of the two branches by which the Indus
flows into the sea. Also with the Nharawan, an ancient canal from the
Tigris towards the Persian Gulf. And with the Curische Nehrung, a strip
of land which separates the lagoon called the Curische Haf in Prussia
from the waters of the Baltic. On this name Mr. Winning remarks,[17] "I
offer the conjecture that the word _nehrung_ is equivalent to our
break-water, and that it is derived from the Sabine (or Old Prussian)
term _neriene_, strength, bravery." I should propose to give it a
meaning analogous, but rather different--deriving it from the word in
question, _nar_ or _ner_, water, and some equivalent of Old Norse
_engia_, coarctare, making _nehrung_ to signify "that which confines the
waters" (of the lake). In all these cases there is something of the
sense of an estuary, or of a channel communicating with the sea--the
Curische Haf being a large lagoon which receives the river Niemen, and
discharges it by an outlet into the Baltic. The following names I take
to be for the most part of Celtic origin.
1. _England._ The NOW. Derbyshire.
The NAR. Norfolk.
The NORE, part of the estuary the Thames.
_Ireland._ NEAGH. A lake, Ulster.
NORE. Joins the Shannon.
_Germany._ NOR(AHA), 8th cent., also called the NAHA.
_Italy._ NAR[18] ant. The NERA.
_Spain._ The NERJA. Malaga.
_Russia._ The NAR(OVA), and the NAREW.
_Europ. Turkey._ NARO ant., now the NARENTA.
_Mauretania._ NIA ant., now the Senegal--here?
_Hindostan._ NARRA, two branches of the Indus--here?
2. _With the ending en, = Sansc. nîran, water?_
_Illyria._ The NARON.
_Scotland._ The NAREN or NAIRN.
3. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ The NEERS. Rhen. Pruss.
From the Sansc. _nî_, to move, Gael. _nigh_, to bathe, to wash, comes, I
apprehend, the Welsh _nannaw_, _nennig_, _nant_, a small stream.
_England._ The NENE or NEN. Northampton.
The NENT. Cumberland.
_Ireland._ The NENAGH. Joins the Shannon.
_France._ The NENNY.
Closely allied to _nî_, to move, I take to be Sansc. _niv_, to flow,
Welsh _nofio_, to swim, to float, whence the names undermentioned. The
Novius of Ptolemy, supposed to be the Nith, if not a false rendering,
might come in here.
1. _France._ The NIVE. Joins the Adour.
_Germany._ NABA, 1st cent., now the NAAB in Bavaria.
_Holland._ NABA or NAVA, 1st cent., now the NAHE or NAVE.
_Spain._ The NAVIA. Falls into the Bay of Biscay.
_Russia._ The NEVA and the NEIVA.
_Hindostan._ The NAAF. Falls into the Bay of Bengal.
2. _With the ending en._
_Persia._ The NABON. Prov. Fars.
_Russ. Pol._ The NIEMEN.[19]
3. _With the ending er._
_Scotland._ The NAVER. River and lake.
_Wales._ The NEVER. Merioneth.
_France._ NIVERIS ant., now the NIEVRE.
_Danub. Prov._ NAPARIS (Herodotus), supposed to be the Ardisch.
4. _With the ending el._
_France and} The NIVELLE. Pyrenees.
Spain._ }
_Holland._ NABALIS (Tacitus), by some thought to be the Yssel.
5. _With the ending es._
_Scotland._ The NEVIS. Rises on Ben Nevis.
From the same root, _nî_, to move, and closely connected with the last
group, I take to be Sansc. _nis_, to flow, to water. Zeuss (_Die
Deutschen_) takes the word, as far as it relates to the rivers of
Germany, to be of Slavonic origin. It appears to be the word found as
the second part of some Slavonic river-names, as the Yalomnitza. But it
is also both Celtic and Teutonic, for the Armorican has _naoz_, a brook,
and the German has _nasz_, wet, _nässen_, to be wet.
1. _Scotland._ The NESS. River and lake.
_Germany._ NISA, 11th cent. The NEISSE, two rivers, both of which
join the Oder.
_Servia._ The NISS(AVA). Joins the Morava.
_Sicily._ The NISI.
2. _With the ending st._[20]
_France._ The NESTE. Hautes Pyrenees.
_Thrace._ NESTUS ant.
From the Greek ναω, fluo, comes νᾶμα, a stream, ναματιᾶιον ὕδωρ, running
water. Hence seems to be NAMADUS, the name given by the Greek
geographers to the Nerbudda of India.
Another form which I take to be derived from the above Sanscrit root
_nî_, by the prefix _s_, is Sansc. _snu_, fluere, stillare, (whence
Germ. _schnee_, Eng. _snow_, &c.)
_Germany._ ZNUUIA, 11th cent., now the SCHNEI.
_Russia._ The ZNA or TZNA.
A derivative form is the Gael. and Ir. _snidh_ or _snith_, to ooze
through, distil, Obs. Gael. and Ir. _snuadh_, to flow, and _snuadh_, a
river, whence I take the following. Förstemann refers to Old High German
_snidan_, Modern German _schneiden_, to divide, in the sense of a
boundary, which is a root suitable enough in itself, though I think it
ought to yield the preference to the direct sense of water.
_England._ The SNYTE. Leicestershire.
_Germany._ SNEID(BACH), 8th cent., seems to be now called the Aue.
SMID(AHA), 9th cent., now the SCHMIDA, which joins the
Danube. For Snidaha?
The form _snid_ or _snith_ introduces the form _nid_ or _nith_, and
suggests the enquiry whether that may not also be a word signifying
water. Donaldson, (_Varronianus_), referring to a word Nethuns, "found
on a Tuscan mirror over a figure manifestly intended for Neptune,"
observes that "there can be little doubt that _nethu_ means water in the
Tuscan language." Assuming the correctness of the premises, I think that
this must be the case; and that as the Naiades (water-nymphs), contain
the Greek ναω; as Nereus (a water-god), contains the word _ner_ before
referred to; as Neptune contains the Greek νίπτω, in each case
involving the signification of water, so Nethuns (=Neptunus) must
contain a related word _neth_ or _nethun_ of the same meaning. Also that
this word comes in its place here, as a derivative of the root _nî_, and
as a corresponding form to the Celtic _snidh_ or _snith_.
There are, however, two other meanings which might intermix in the
following names; the one is that suggested by Baxter, viz., Welsh
_nyddu_, to turn or twist, in the sense of tortuousness; and the other
is Old Norse _nidr_, fremor, strepitus.
1. _England._ The NIDD. Yorkshire.
_Scotland._ The NITH. Dumfriesshire.
_Wales._ The NEATH. Glamorgan.
_France._ The NIED. Joins the Sarre.
_Belgium._ The NETHE. Joins the Ruppel.
_Germany._ NIDA, 8th cent., now the NIDDA.
The NETHE. Joins the Weser.
_Norway._ The NIDA.
_Poland._ The NIDDA.
_Greece._ NEDA ant., now the Buzi in Elis.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The NETHAN. Lesmahago.
3. _With the ending rn (see note p. 34)._
_Germany._ NITORNE, 9th cent., now the NIDDER.
There can hardly be a doubt that the words _sar_, _sor_, _sur_, so
widely spread in the names of rivers, are to be traced to the Sansc.
_sar_, _sri_, to move, to go, _sru_, to flow, whence _saras_, water,
_sarit_, _srôta_, river. The Permic and two kindred dialects of the
Finnic class have the simple form _sor_ or _sur_, a river, and the
Gaelic and Irish have the derived form _sruth_, to flow, _sroth_,
_sruth_, river. In the names Sorg, Sark, Sarco, I rather take the
guttural to have accrued.
1. _England._ The SOAR. Leicester.
The SARK, forms the boundary between England and
Scotland.
_France._ The SERRE. Joins the Oise.
_Germany._ SARAVUS ant., now the SAAR.
SORAHA, 8th cent., a small stream seemingly now
unnamed.
SURA, 7th cent. The SURE and the SUR.
The SORG. Prussia.
_Switzerland._ The SARE and the SUR.
_Norway._ The SURA.
_Russia._ The SURA. Joins the Volga.
The SVIR, falls into Lake Ladoga.
_Lombardy._ The SERIO. Joins the Adda.
The SERCHIO or SARCO.
_Portugal._ The SORA. Joins the Tagus.
_Asia._ SERUS ant., now the Meinam.
_Asia Minor._ SARUS ant., now the Sihon.
_India._ SARAYU[21] ant., now the Sardju.
_Armenia._ ARIUS[22] ant., now the Heri Rud.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ The SERAN. Joins the Rhone.
The SERAIN. Joins the Yonne.
_Germany._ SORNA, 8th cent. The ZORN.
_Switzerland._ The SUREN. Cant. Aargau.
_Naples._ SARNUS ant. The SARNO.
_Persia._ SARNIUS ant., now the Atrek.
The form _saras_, water, seems to be found in the following two names.
1. _With the ending en._
_France._ The SARSONNE. Dep. Corrèze.
2. _Compounded with wati = Goth. wato, water._
_India._ The SARASWATI, which still retains its ancient name.
And the Sansc. _sarit_, Gael. and Ir. _sroth_, _sruth_, a river, seem to
be found in the following.
_Ireland._ The SWORDS river near Dublin.
_France._ The SARTHE. Joins the Mayenne.
_Galicia._ The SERED. Joins the Dniester.
_Moldavia._ The SERETH. Ant. Ararus.
_Russia._ The SARAT(OVKA).[23] Gov. Saratov.
It would seem that the foregoing forms _sri_, _sru_, _srot_, sometimes
take a phonetic _t_, and become _stri_, _stru_, _strot_. Thus one Celtic
dialect, the Armorican, changes _sur_ into _ster_, and another, the
Cornish, changes _sruth_ into _struth_--both words signifying a river.
But indeed the natural tendency towards it is too obvious to require
much comment. Hence we may take the names Stry and Streu. But is the
form Stur from this source also? Förstemann finds an etymon in Old High
German _stur_, Old Norse _stôr_, great. This may obtain in the case of
some of the rivers of Scandinavia, but is hardly suited for those of
England and Italy, none of which are large. The root, moreover, seems
too widely spread, if, as I suspect, it is this which forms the ending
of many ancient names as the Cayster, the Cestrus, the Alster, Elster,
Ister, Danastris, &c. The Armorican _ster_, a river, seems to be the
word most nearly concerned.
1. _The form stry, stru, stur._
_England._ STURIUS (Ptolemy). The STOUR. There are six rivers
of this name.
_Germany._ STROWA, 8th cent. The STREU.
_Holstein._ STURIA, 10th cent. The STÖR.
_Italy._ STURA, two rivers.
STORAS (Strabo), now the ASTURA.
_Aust. Poland._ The STRY. Joins the Dniester.
The STYR. Joins the Pripet.
2. _The form struth._
_England._ The STROUD. Gloucester.
The STORT. Essex.
_Germany._ The UNSTRUT Förstemann places here, as far as the
ending _strut_ is concerned.
From the Sanscrit root _su_, liquere, come Sansc. _sava_, water, Old
High German _sou_, Lat. _succus_, moisture, Gael. _sûgh_, a wave, &c.;
(on the apparent resemblance between Sansc. _sava_, water and Goth.
_saivs_, sea, Diefenbach observes, we must not build). Hence I take to
be the following; but a word very liable to intermix is Gael. _sogh_,
tranquil; and where the character of stillness is very marked, I have
taken them under that head.
1. _England._ The SOW. Warwickshire.
_Ireland._ The SUCK. Joins the Shannon.
_France._ The SAVE. Joins the Garonne.
_Belgium._ SABIS, 1st cent. B.C., now the Sambre.
_Germany._ SAVUS ant. The SAVE or SAU.
The SÖVE. Joins the Elbe.
_Russia._ The SEVA.
_Italy._ The SAVIO. Pont. States.
The SIEVE. Joins the Arno.
2. _With the ending en._
_Italy._ The SAVENA or SAONA. Piedmont.
_Armenia._ The SEVAN. Lake.
3. _With the ending er._
_Ireland._ SEVERUS ant. The SUIRE.
_Germany._ SEVIRA, 9th cent. The ZEYER.
_France._ The SEVRE. Two rivers.
_Spain._ SUCRO ant. The XUCAR.
_Portugal._ The SABOR.
4. _With the ending rn (see note p. 34)._
_England._ SABRINA ant. The SEVERN.
_France._ The SEVRON. Dep. Saône-et-Loire.
_Russ. Pol._ The SAVRAN(KA). Gov. Podolia.
5. _With the ending es._
_Lombardy._ The SAVEZO near Milano.
In the Sanscrit _mih_, to flow, to pour, Old Norse _mîga_, scaturire,
Anglo-Saxon _migan_, _mihan_, to water, Sansc. _maighas_, rain, Old
Norse _mîgandi_, a torrent--("unde," says Haldorsen, "nomina propria
multorum torrentium"), Obs. Gael. and Ir. _machd_, a wave, I find the
root of the following. Most of the names are no doubt from the Celtic,
though the traces of the root are more faint in that tongue than in the
Teutonic. This I take to be the word, which in the forms _ma_, and _man_
or _men_, forms the ending of several river-names.
1. _Scotland._ The MAY. Perthshire.
_Ireland._ The MAIG and the MOY.
_Wales._ The MAY and the MAW.
_France._ The MAY.
_Siberia._ The MAIA. Joins the Aldon.
_India._ The MHYE. Bombay.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The MAWN. Notts.
The MEON. Hants. (Meôn eâ, _Cod. Dip._)
_Ireland._ The MAIN and the MOYNE.
_France._ The MAINE. Two rivers.
_Belgium._ The MEHAIGNE. Joins the Scheldt.
_Germany._ MOENUS ant. The MAIN.
_Sardinia._ The MAINA. Joins the Po.
_Siberia._ The MAIN. Joins the Anadyr.
_India._ The MEGNA. Prov. Bengal.
The MAHANUDDY--here?
3. _With the ending er._
_Italy._ The MAGRA. Falls into the Gulf of Genoa.
4. _With the ending el._
_England._ The MEAL. Shropshire.
_Denmark._ The MIELE. Falls into the German Ocean.
5. _With the ending st._[24]
_Asia Minor._ The MACESTUS. Joins the Rhyndacus.
From the root _mî_, to flow, come also Sansc. _mîras_, Lat. _mare_,
Goth. _marei_, Ang.-Sax. _mêr_, Germ. _meer_, Welsh _mar_, _mor_, Gael.
and Ir. _muir_, Slav. _morie_, &c., sea or lake. I should be more
inclined however to derive most of the following from the cognate Sansc.
_mærj_, to wash, to water, Lat. _mergo_, &c. Also, the Celtic _murg_, in
the more definite sense of a morass, may come in for some of the forms.
1. _France._ The MORGE. Dep. Isère.
_Germany._ MARUS (Tacitus). The MARCH, Slav. MOR(AVA).
MUORA, 8th cent. The MUHR.
MURRA, 10th cent. The MURR.
_Belgium._ MURGA, 7th cent. The MURG.
The MARK. Joins the Scheldt.
_Switzerland._ The MURG. Cant. Thurgau.
_Sardinia._ The MORA. Div. Novara.
_Servia._ MARGUS ant. The MORAVA.
_Italy._ The MARECCHIA. Pont. States--here?
_India._ The MERGUI--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Ireland._ The MOURNE. Ulster.
_Germany._ MARNE, 11th cent., now the MARE.
MERINA, 11th cent. The MÖRN.
3. _With the ending es._
_England._ The MERSEY. Lancashire.
_Germany._ MUORIZA, 10th cent. The MURZ.
_Dacia._ MARISUS ant. The MAROSCH.
_Phrygia._ MARSYAS ant.
Another form of Sansc. _marj_, to wet, to wash, is _masj_, whence I take
the following.
_Ireland._ MASK, a lake in Connaught.
_Russia._ The MOSK(VA), by Moscow, to which it gives the name.
From the Sanscrit _vag_ or _vah_, to move, comes _vahas_, course, flux,
current, cognate with which are Goth. _wegs_, Germ. _woge_, Eng. _wave_,
&c. An allied Celtic word is found as the ending of many British
river-names, as the Conway, the Medway, the Muthvey, the Elwy, &c. Hence
I take to be the following, in the sense of water or river.
1. _England._ The WEY. Dorset.
The WEY. Surrey.
_Hungary._ The WAAG. Joins the Danube.
_Russia._ The VAGA. Joins the Dwina.
The VAGAI and the VAKH in Siberia.
_India._ The VAYAH. Madras.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The WAVENEY. Norf. and Suffolk.
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The WAVER. Cumberland.
4. _With the ending el._
_Netherlands._ VAHALIS, 1st cent. B.C. The WAAL.
5. _With the ending es = Sansc. vahas?_
_France._ VOGESUS ant. The VOSGES.
An allied form to the above is found in Sansc. _vi_, _vîc_, to move,
Lat. _via_, &c., and to which I put the following.
1. _England._ The WYE. Monmouthshire.
_Scotland._ The WICK. Caithness.
_France._ The VIE. Two rivers.
_Russia._ The VIG. Forms lake VIGO.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ VIGENNA ant. The VIENNE.
_Germany._ The WIEN, which gives the name to Vienna, (Germ.
Wien).
3. _With the ending er._
_Switzerland._ The WIGGER. Cant. Lucerne.
_France._ The VEGRE. Dep. Sarthe.
The VIAUR--probably here.
_Poland._ The WEGIER(KA).
_India._ The VEGIAUR, Madras--here?
Formed on the root _vi_, to move, is probably also the Sansc. _vip_ or
_vaip_, to move, to agitate, Latin _vibrare_, perhaps _vivere_, Old
Norse _vippa_, _vipra_, gyrare, Eng. _viper_, &c. I cannot trace in the
following the sense of rapidity, which we might suspect from the root.
Nor yet with sufficient distinctness the sense of tortuousness, so
strongly brought out in some of its derivatives.
1. _With the ending er._
_England._ The WEAVER. Cheshire.
The VEVER. Devonshire.
_Germany._ WIPPERA, 10th cent. The WIPPER (two rivers), and
the WUPPER.
2. _With the ending es._
_India._ VIPASA, the Sanscrit name of the Beas.
_Switzerland._ VIBSICUS ant. (properly Vibissus?) The VEVEYSE by
Vevay.
From the root _vip_, to move, taking the prefix _s_, is formed _swip_,
which I have dealt with in the next chapter.
In the Sansc. _par_, to move, we find the root of Gael. _beathra_
(pronounced _beara_), Old Celt. _ber_, water, Pers. _baran_, rain, &c.,
to which I place the following.
1. _England._ The BERE. Dorset.
_Ireland._ BARGUS (Ptolemy). The BARROW.
_France._ The BAR. Dep. Ardennes.
The BERRE. Dep. Aude.
_Germany._ The BAHR, the BEHR, the BEHRE, the PAAR.
2. _With the ending en._
_Bohemia._ The BERAUN near Prague.
_India._ The BEHRUN.
_Russia._ The PERNAU. Gulf of Riga.
From the Sansc. _plu_, to flow, Lat. _pluo_ and _fluo_, come Sansc.
_plavas_, flux, Lat. _pluvia_ and _fluvius_, Gr. πλυνω, lavo,
Ang.-Sax. _flôwe_, _flum_, Lat. _flumen_, river, &c. Hence we get the
following.
1. _Germany._ The PLAU, river and lake.[25] Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
_Holland._ FLEVO, 1st cent. The Zuiderzee, the outlet of which,
between Vlieland and Schelling, is still called
VLIE.
_Aust. Italy._ PLAVIS ant. The PIAVE, falls into the Adriatic.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ The PLAINE. Joins the Meurthe.
_Germany._ The PLONE. Joins the Haff.
The PLAN-SEE, a lake in the Tyrol.
_Holstein._ PLOEN. A lake.
_Poland._ The PLONNA. Prov. Plock.
From the above root come also the following, which compare with Sansc.
_plavas_, Mid. High Germ. _vlieze_, Mod. Germ. _fliess_, Old Fries.
_flêt_, Old Norse _fliot_, stream. And I think that some at least of
this group are German.
1. _England._ The FLEET. Joins the Trent.
The FLEET, now called the Fleetditch in London.
_Scotland._ The FLEET. Kirkcudbright.
_Germany._ BLEISA, 10th cent. The PLEISSE.
_Holland._ FLIETA, 9th cent. The VLIET.
_Russia._ The PLIUSA. Gulf of Finland.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ FLIEDINA, 8th cent. The FLIEDEN.
The FLIETN(ITZ). Pruss. Pom.
3. _With the ending st._
_Holland._ The VLIEST.
_Greece._ PLEISTUS ant., near Delphi.
There are two more forms from the same root, the former of which we may
refer to the Irish and Gael. _fluisg_, a flushing or flowing. The latter
shows a form nearest to the Ang.-Sax. and Old High Germ. _flum_, Lat.
_flumen_, though I think that the names must be rather Celtic.
1. _Ireland._ The FLISK. Falls into the Lake of Killarney.
_Germany._ The PLEISKE. Joins the Oder.
2. _England._ The PLYM, by Plymouth.
_Scotland._ The PALME, by Palmton.
_Siberia._ The PELYM. Gov. Tobolsk.
From the Sansc. _gam_, to go, is derived, according to Bopp and Monier
Williams, the name of the Ganges, in Sanscrit Gangâ. The word is in fact
the same as the Scotch "gang," which seems to be derived more
immediately from the Old Norse _ganga_. In the sense of "that which
goes," the Hindostanee has formed _gung_, a river, found in the names of
the Ramgunga, the Kishengunga, the Chittagong, and other rivers of
India. The same ending is found by Förstemann in the old names of one or
two German rivers, as the Leo near Salzburg, which in the 10th cent. was
called the LIUGANGA. Another name for the Ganges is the Pada, for which
Hindoo ingenuity has sought an origin in the myth of its rising from the
foot of Vishnoo. But as _pad_ and _gam_ in Sanscrit have both the same
meaning, viz., to go, I am inclined to suggest that the two names Ganga
and Pada may simply be synonymes of each other.
1. _India._ The GANGES. Sanscrit GANGA.
The GINGY. Pondicherry.
_Russia._ The KHANK(OVA). Joins the Don.
2. _With the ending et._
_Greece._ GANGITUS ant., in Macedonia.
The Sansc. verb _gam_, to go, along with its allied forms, is formed on
a simpler verb _gâ_, of the same meaning. To this I put the following.
1. _Holland._ The GOUW. Joins the Yssel.
_Persia._ CHOES or CHO(ASPES)[26] ant.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ GEWIN(AHA), 9th cent., now the JAHN(BACH).
3. _Compounded with ster, river._
_Asia Minor._ The CAYSTER and CESTRUS--here?
The Sansc. _ikh_, to move, must, I think, contain the root of the
following, though I find no derivatives in any sense nearer to that of
water or river.
1. _Russia._ The IK. Two rivers.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ ICENA (_Cod. Dip._) The ITCHEN.
_France._ ICAUNA ant. The IONNE.
3. _With the ending el._
_Moravia._ The IGLA or IGL(AWA).
_France._ The ECOLLE. Dep. Seine-et-Oise.
From the Sansc. _dravas_, flowing, are derived, according to Bopp, the
Drave and the Trave. The root-verb is, I presume, _drâ_, to move. Hence
I have suggested, p. 37, may be the Welsh _dwr_, water.
1. _Scotland._ The TARF, several small rivers--here?
_Germany._ DRAVUS, 1st cent. The DRAVE, Germ. DRAU.
_Italy._ The TREBBIA. Joins the Po.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ TRAVENA, 10th cent., now the TRAVE.
TREWINA, 9th cent. The DRAN.
DRONA, 9th cent. The DRONE.
TRUNA, 7th cent. The TRAUN.
_France._ The DRONNE. Joins the Isle.
In the Sansc. _dram_, to move, to run, Gr. δρέμω, whence _dromedary_,
&c., is to be found the root of the following. But _dram_, as I take it,
is an interchanged form with the preceding _drav_, as _amon_ = _avon_,
&c., _ante_.
1. _Scotland._ The TROME and the TRUIM. Inverness.
_France._ The DROME and the DARME.
_Belgium._ The DURME.
_Germany._ The DARM, by Darmstadt.
2. _With the ending en._
_Norway._ The DRAMMEN. Christiania Fjord.
Another word of the same meaning as the last, and perhaps allied in its
root, is Sansc. _trag_, to run, Gr. τρέχω, Goth. _thragjan_. It will
be observed that the above Greek verb mixes up in its tenses with the
obsolete verb δρέμω of the preceding group. In all these words
signifying to run there may be something of rapidity, though I am not
able to remove them out of this category.
1. _France._ The DRAC. Joins the Isère.
_Prussia._ The DRAGE.
_Greece._ TRAGUS ant.
_Italy._ The TREJA. Joins the Tiber.
2. _With the ending en._
_Sicily._ The TRACHINO. Joins the Simeto.
The Sansc. _il_, to move, Gr. ἑίλω, Old High Germ. _ilen_, Swed. _ila_,
Mod. Germ. _eilen_, to hasten, Fr. _aller_, &c., is a very widely spread
root in river-names.
1. _England._ The ILE. Somerset.
The ALLOW. Northumberland.
_France._ The ILL, the ILLE, and the ELLÉ.
_Germany._ ILLA, 9th cent. The ILL.
IL(AHA), 11th cent. The IL(ACH).
The ALLE. Prussia.
_Italy._ ALLIA ant., near Rome.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ ALAUNUS (Ptolemy). Perhaps the AXE.
The ALNE, two rivers.
The ELLEN. Cumberland.
_Scotland._ The ALLAN, two rivers.
_Ireland._ The ILEN. Cork.
_France._ The AULNE. Dep. Finistère.
3. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ ALARA, 8th cent. The ALLER.
ILARA, 10th cent. The ILLER.
_Piedmont._ The ELLERO.
From the above root _al_ or _il_, to move, to go, I take to be the Gael.
_ald_ or _alt_, a stream, (an older form of which, according to
Armstrong, is _aled_); and the Old Norse _allda_, Finnish _aalto_, a
wave, billow. As an ending this word is found in the NAGOLD of Germany
(ant. NAGALTA), and in the HERAULT of France, Dep. Herault. Förstemann
makes the former word _nagalt_, and remarks on it as "unexplained." It
seems to me to be a compound word, of which the former part is probably
to be found in the root _nig_ or _nî_, p. 47.
1. _England._ The ALDE. Suffolk.
The ALT. Lancashire.
_France._ OLTIS ant., now the Lot.
_Germany._ The ELD. Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
_Spain._ The ELDA.
_Russia._ The ALTA. Gov. Poltova.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ ALDENA, 11th cent., now the Olle.
_Norway._ The ALTEN.
_Siberia._ The ALDAN. Joins the Lena.
Also from the root _al_ or _il_, to move, I take to be the Old Norse
_elfa_, Dan. _elv_, Swed. _elf_, a river. The river Ἄλπις mentioned in
Herodotus is supposed by Mannert to be the Inn by Innsbrück. I think the
able Editor of Smith's Ancient Geography has scarcely sufficient ground
for his supposition that Herodotus, in quoting the Alpis and Carpis as
rivers, confounded them with the names of mountains. The former, it will
be seen, is an appellative for a river; the latter is found in the name
Carpino, of an affluent of the Tiber, and might be from the Celt.
_garbh_, violent; a High Germ. element, for instance, would make _garbh_
into _carp_. But indeed the form _carp_ is that which comes nearest to
the original root, if I am correct in supposing it to be the Sansc.
_karp_, Lat. _carpo_, in the sense of violent action. In the following
list I should be inclined to take the names Alapa, Elaver, and Ilavla,
as nearest to the original form.
1. _Germany._ ALBIS, 1st cent. The ELBE. Also the ALB in Baden, and
the ALF in Pomerania.
ALPIS (Herodotus), perhaps the Inn.
ALAPA, 8th cent., now the Wölpe.
The AUPE. Joins the Elbe.
_France._ ALBA ant., now the AUBE.
The AUVE. Dep. Marne.
The HELPE. Joins the Sambre.
_Greece._ ALPHEUS ant., now the Rufio--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The ELVAN. Joins the Clyde.
_Germany._ ALBANA, 8th cent., now the ALBEN.
_Tuscany._ ALBINIA ant. The ALBEGNA.
3. _With the ending er._
_France._ ELAVER ant., now the Allier.
4. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ ALBLA, 11th cent., not identified.
_Italy._ ALBULA, the ancient name of the Tiber.
_Russia._ The ILAVLA. Joins the Don.
Förstemann seems to me to be right in his conjecture that the forms
_alis_, _els_, _ils_, are also extensions of the root _al_, _el_, _il_.
We see the same form in Gr. ἑλισσω, an extension of ἑιλω, and having
just the same meaning of verso, volvo. Indeed I think that this word,
which we find specially applied to rivers, is the one most concerned in
the following names, two of which, it will be seen moreover, belong to
Greece. Hence may perhaps be derived the name of the Elysii,
(wanderers?) a German tribe mentioned in Tacitus. And through them, of
many names of men, as the Saxon Alusa and Elesa, down to our own family
names Alice and Ellice.[27]
1. _France._ The ALISE.
_Germany._ ELZA, 10th cent., now the ELZ.
ILSA ant., now the ILSE.
The ALASS. Falls into the Gulf of Riga.
_Greece._ ILISSUS ant., still retains its name.
_Asia Minor._ HALYS ant., now the Kizil-Irmak.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ ELISON, 3rd cent., now the Lise.
_Belgium._ ALISNA, 7th cent., not identified.
_Greece._ ELLISON or HELISSON ant.
3. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ ALZISSA, 9th cent., now the ALZ.
ILZISA, 11th cent., now the ILZ.
The root _sal_ Förstemann takes to be Celtic, and to mean salt water. No
doubt saltness is a characteristic which would naturally give a name to
a river. So it does in the case of the "Salt River" in the U.S., and of
the Salza in the Salzkammergut. But I can hardly think that all the
many rivers called the SAALE are salt, and I am inclined to go deeper
for the meaning. The Sansc. has _sal_, to move, whence _salan_, water.
The first meaning then seems to be water--applied to the sea as _the_
water--and then to salt as derived from the sea. So that when the Gr.
άλς, the Old Norse _salt_, and the Gael. _sal_, all mean both salt,
and also the sea, the latter may be the original sense. From the above
root, _sal_, to move, the Lat. forms both _salire_ and _saltare_, as
from the same root come _sal_ and _salt_. I take the root _sal_ then in
river-names to mean, at least in some cases, water. In one or two
instances the sense of saltness comes before us as a known quality, and
in such case I have taken the names elsewhere. But failing the proper
proof, which would be that of tasting, I must leave the others where
they stand.
1. _Germany._ SALA, 1st cent. Five rivers called the SAALE.
SALIA, 8th cent. The SEILLE.
_France._ The SELLÉ. Two rivers.
_Russia._ The SAL. Joins the Don.
_Spain._ SALO ant., now the XALON.
2. _With the ending en = Sansc. salan, water?_
_Ireland._ The SLAAN and the SLANEY.
_France._ The SELUNE. Dep. Manche.
It is possible that the root _als_, _ils_, found in the name of several
rivers, as the ALZ, ELZ, ILSE, may be a transposition of the above, just
as Gr. άλς = Lat. _sal_. But upon the whole I have thought another
derivation better, and have included them in a preceding group.
From the Sansc. _var_ or _vars_, to bedew, moisten, whence _var_, water,
_varsas_, rain, Gr. ἐρση, dew, Gael. and Ir. _uaran_, fresh water, I
get the following, dividing them into the two forms, _var_ and _vars_.
_The form var._
1. _England._ The VER. Herts.
_France._ VIRIA ant. The VIRE.
_Germany._ The WERRE in Thuringia.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ WARINNA, 8th cent. The WERN.
The WARN(AU). Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
_Naples._ VARANO,[28] a lagoon on the Adriatic shore.
_The form vars._
1. _England._ The WORSE. Shropshire.
_France._ The OURCE. Joins the Seine.
_Germany._ The WERS. Joins the EMS.
_Italy._ ARSIA ant.--here?
VARESE. Lake in Lombardy.
_Persia._ AROSIS ant., now the Tab--here?
_Armenia._ ARAXES[29] ant., now the ARAS--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ URSENA, 8th cent., now the OERTZE.
_Asia Minor._ ORSINUS ant., now the Hagisik--here?
3. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ URSELA, 8th cent. The URSEL.
HÖRSEL. Joins the Werre.
In the above Sansc. _var_, to moisten, to water, is contained, as I take
it, the root of the Finnic _wirta_, a river, the only appellative I can
find for the following.
1. _Germany._ WERT(AHA), 10th cent., now the WERT(ACH).
_Poland._ The WARTA. Joins the Oder.
_Denmark._ The VARDE. Prov. Jütland.
_India._ The WURDAH. Joins the Godavery.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ The VERDON. Dep. Var.
3. _With the ending er._
_Ireland._ The VARTREY. Wicklow.
_France._ The VARDRE.
_Europ. Turkey._ The VARDAR, ant. Axius.
The following names have been generally supposed to be derived from
Welsh _cledd_ or _cleddeu_, sword, and to be applied metaphorically to a
river. But I think it will be seen from the Sansc. _klid_, to water,
whence _klaidan_, flux, Gr. κλύδων, fluctus, unda, Ang.-Sax. _glade_,
a river, brook, that the meaning of water lies at the very bottom of the
word. Perhaps, however, as the senses of a running stream and of a sharp
point often run parallel to each other, there may be in this case a
relationship between them.
1. _Scotland._ The CLYDE. (CLOTA, Ptolemy.)
_Wales._ The CLOYD, the CLWYD, and the CLEDDEU.
_Ireland._ The GLYDE.
_Greece._ CLADEUS ant.--here?
_Umbria._ CLIT(UMNUS)[30] ant.--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ The KLODN(ITZ). Pruss. Silesia.
3. _With the ending er._
_Greece._ The CLITORA in Arcadia, on which stood the ancient
Clitorium.
_Asia Min._ CLUDROS ant., in Caria.
There are two Sanscrit roots from which the word _ag_, _ang_, _ing_, in
river-names might be deduced. One is the verb _ag_ or _aj_, to move,
whence _anjas_, movement, (or the verb _ac_ or _anc_, to traverse), and
the other is the verb _ag_ or _ang_, to contract, whence Latin _anguis_,
snake, _anguilla_, eel, Eng. _angle_, &c. The sense then might be either
the ordinary one of motion, the root-meaning of most river names, or it
might be the special sense of tortuousness. But as the only appellative
I can find is the word _anger_, a river, in the Tcheremissian dialect of
the Finnic (Bonaparte polyglott), I think it safer to follow the most
common sense, though the other may not improbably intermix. The
derivation of Mone, from Welsh _eog_, salmon, I do not think of.
1. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ ANKIN(AHA), 8th cent., now the ECKN(ACH).
_France._ The INGON. Dep. Somme.
2. _With the ending er._
_England._ The ANKER. Leicestershire.
_Germany._ ACKARA, 10th cent. The AGGER.
AGARA, 8th cent. The EGER.
The ANGERAP (_ap_, water), Prussia.
_Siberia._ The ANGERA.
_Italy._ ACARIS ant. The AGRI.
_Servia?_ ANGRUS (Herodotus).
_India._ The AGHOR--here?
3. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ The ANGEL, three rivers (Baden, Westphalia, and Bohemia).
_Russia._ The INGUL. Joins the Bug.
4. _With the ending st._
_Germany._ AGASTA,[31] 8th cent., now the AISS.
From the Sansc. _pî_, to drink, also to give to drink, to water, Gr.
πιω, πινω, we may get a form _pin_ in river-names.
1. _Germany._ The PEEN in Prussia.
_Holstein._ The PINAU. Joins the Elbe.
_Hungary._ The PINA. Joins the Pripet.
The PINKA--here?[32]
_Russia._ The PIANA. Joins the Volga.
The PINE(GA). Joins the Dwina.
_India._ The BINOA. Joins the Beas.
_Greece._ PENEUS ant. Two rivers--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Siberia._ The PENJINA.
3. _With the ending er._
_India._ The PENNAR. Madras.
4. _With the ending es._
_Russia._ The PENZA. Joins the Sura.
From the above Sansc. _pi_ we may also derive the form _pid_. The only
appellative I find, (if it can be called one), is the Ang.-Sax.
_pidele_, a thin stream, given by Kemble in the glossary to the _Cod.
Dip._; and hence the name PIDDLE, of several small streams. The only
name I find in the simple form, and that uncertain, is the PINDUS of
Greece. Then there is a form _peder_, which seems to be from a definite
word, and not from the simple suffix _er_.
1. _England._ The PEDDER. Somerset.
_Greece._ PYDARAS ant. Thrace.
_India._ The PINDAR--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The PITREN(ICK), a small stream in Lanarkshire.
3. _With the ending el._
_England._ The PETTERIL in Cumberland.
4. _With the ending et._
_England._ PÊDREDE (_Cod. Dip._) Now the PARRET.
Also from the Sansc. root _pi_, to drink, to water, we get the form
_bib_ or _pip_, as found in Lat. _bibo_, and in Sansc. _pipâsas_, toper.
Here also in the simple form I only find one name--the BEUVE in France,
Dep. Gironde. In the form _biber_ there are many names, particularly in
Germany. Graff (_Sprachschatz_), seems to refer the word to _biber_,
beaver, but Förstemann, with more reason, as I think, suggests a lost
word for water or river.
1. _England._ The PEVER. Cheshire.
_Scotland._ The PEFFER. Ross-shire.
_France._ The BIÈVRE. Joins the Seine.
_Germany._ BIBER(AHA), 7th cent. The BEVER, the BIBRA, the
PEBR(ACH), and the BIBER(BACH).
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ BIVERAN, 8th cent., now the BEVER.
_France._ The BEUVRON. Dep. Nièvre.
Perhaps also from the root _pi_ we may derive the Ir. _buinn_, river,
_bual_, _biol_, water. From the former Mr. Charnock derives the name of
the Boyne, a derivation which I think suitable, even if we take the
ancient form Buvinda, (_Zeuss, Gramm. Celt._,) which might be more
properly Buvinna, as Gironde for Garonne in France. For the Bunaha in
Germany, the Old Norse _buna_, scaturire, might also be suggested.
_Ireland._ The BOYNE.
_Germany._ BUN(AHA), 9th cent., now the BAUN(ACH).
From the Ir. _biol_, _buol_, I derive the following, keeping out the
rivers of the Slavonic districts, which may be referred to the Slav.
_biala_, white.
1. _England._ The BEELA. Westmoreland.
_Ireland._ The BOYLE, of which, according to O'Brien, the Irish
form is BUIL.
_France._ The BOL(BEC). Dep. Seine-Inf.
_Germany._ BOLL(AHA) ant. Not identified.
_Asia Minor._ BILLÆUS ant., now the Filyas.
2. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ The BUHLER. Wirtemberg.
_Russia._ The BULLER.
3. _With the ending et._
_Germany._ The BULLOT. Baden.
_Russia._ The POLOTA. Joins the Dwina.
A very obscure root in river-names is _gog_ or _cock_. The only
appellatives I find are in the Celtic, viz., Gael. _caochan_, a small
stream, Arm. _goagen_, wave; unless we think also of the word _jokk_,
_jöggi_, which in the Finnic dialects signifies a river; and in that
case the most probable root would be the Sansc. _yug_, to gush forth. To
the river Coquet, in Northumberland, something of a sacred character
seems to have been ascribed; an altar having been discovered bearing the
inscription "Deo Cocidi," and supposed to have been dedicated to the
genius of that river. Again, we are reminded of the Cocytus in Greece,
a tributary of the river Acheron, invested with so many mysterious
terrors as supposed to be under the dominion of the King of Hades.
Possibly, however, it might only be the similarity, or identity, of the
names which transferred to the one something of the superstitious
reverence paid to the other. At all events, I can find nothing in the
etymology to bear out such a meaning.
1. _England._ COCBRÔC (_Cod. Dip._) This would seem to have
probably been a small stream called Cock, to
which, as in many other cases, the Saxons added
the word brook.
2. _Germany._ COCHIN(AHA), 8th cent., now the KOCHER.[33]
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The COCKER. Cumberland.
The COKER. Lancashire.
_India._ The KOHARY--here?
4. _With the ending el._
_Transylvania._ The KOKEL, two rivers.
_England._ COCKLEY-BECK.[34] Cumberland.
_Germany._ CHUCHILIBACH, now Kuchelbach.
5. _With the ending et._
_England._ The COQUET. Northumberland.
_Greece._ COCYTUS ant., now the Vuvo.
6. _In a compound form._
_England._ The CUCKMARE, Sussex, with the word _mar_, p. 61.
From the Sansc. _mid_, to soften, to melt, (perhaps formed on the root
_mi_, p. 59), come Sansc. _miditas_, fluid, Lat. _madidus_, wet. Herein
seems a sufficient root for river-names, but there is another which is
apt to intermix, Sansc. _math_, to move, whence, I take it, and not from
the former is Old Norse _môda_, a river. I separate a form _med_ or
_mid_, in which the sense of _medius_, and also that of _mitis_, is in
some cases clearly brought out; and another, _muth_ or _muot_, which,
though from the same root, as I take it, as _môda_, a river, (_math_, to
move), has more evidently the sense of speed.
1. _Germany._ MOTA, 8th cent., now the MEDE or MEHE.
2. _With the ending er._
_England._ The MADDER. Wiltshire.
_Germany._ MATRA, 8th cent., now the MODER.
_Italy._ METAURUS ant., the METAURO--here?
3. _With the ending ern._
_France._ MATRŎNA[35] ant., now the Marne.
_Italy._ MATRINUS ant. in Picenum.
4. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ The MADEL.
The only appellative for a river which I find derived from its sound is
the Sanscrit _nadi_, Hind. _nuddy_, from _nad_, sonare. Whether the
following names should come in here may be uncertain; I can find no
links between them and the Sanscrit; perhaps the root _nid_, p. 54, may
be suitable.
1. _France._ NODA ant., now the Noain.
2. _With the ending er._
_England._ The NODDER. (Noddre, _Cod. Dip._)
_Hungary._ The NEUTRA. Joins the Danube.
3. _With the ending es._
_Venetia._ NATISO ant., now the NATISONE.
The only words I can find at all bearing upon the following river-names
are the Serv. _jezor_, Bohem. and Illyr. _jezero_, lake, wherein may
probably lie a word _jez_, signifying water. But respecting its
etymology I am entirely in the dark.
1. _Germany._ JAZ(AHA), 8th cent., now the JOSS.
JEZ(AWA), 11th cent., a brook near Lobenstein.
The JETZA. Joins the Elbe.
The JESS(AVA). Joins the Danube.
2. _With the ending er._
_Russia._ The JISDRA. Joins the Oka.
3. _Compounded with main, river._
_Russia._ The JESMEN. Gov. Tchnerigov.
Another word, of which the belongings are not clearly to be traced, is
the Armorican _houl_, _houlen_, unda, to which we may put the following.
1. _England._ The HULL. Joins the Humber.
_Finland._ The ULLEA. Gulf of Bothnia.
_Spain._ The ULLA in Galicia.
2. _Compounded with ster, river._
_Germany._ ULSTRA, 9th cent., now the ULSTER.
In the Irish and Obs. Gael. _dothar_, water, Welsh _diod_, drink,
_diota_, to tipple--with which we may perhaps also connect the Lapp.
_dadno_, river, Albanian δέτ, sea, and Rhæt. _dutg_, torrent, we may
find the root of the following.
1. _Germany._ The DUYTE. Joins the Hase.
The DUDE, a small stream in Prussia.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The DUDDON. Lake district.
3. _With the ending er._
_Ireland._ The DODDER.
4. _Compounded with mal._[36]
_Germany._ DUTHMALA, 8th cent., now the DOMMEL.
From the Welsh _wyl_, Ang.-Sax. _wyllan_, Eng. _well_, to flow or gush,
(Sansc. _vail_, to move?), we got the following.
1. _England._ The WILLY. Wiltshire.
_Denmark._ The VEILE, in Jutland.
_Norway._ The VILLA.
_Russia._ The VEL. Joins the Vaga.
The VILIA. Joins the Niemen.
The VILIU, (Siberia). Joins the Lena.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The WELLAND, (properly Wellan?)
_Russia._ The VILNA. Gov. Minsk.
_Italy._ The VELINO. Joins the Nera.
3. _With the ending er._
_India._ The VELLAUR, Madras--here?
4. _With the ending s._
_Germany._ The VILS, two rivers in Bavaria.
The WELSE. Joins the Oder.
_Spain._ The VELEZ. Prov. Malaga.
A word which appears to have the meaning of water or river, but
respecting the etymology of which I am quite ignorant, is _asop_ or
_asp_. That it has the above meaning I infer only from finding it as the
second part of the word in the ancient river-names Cho(aspes),
Hyd(aspes), and Zari(aspis). In an independent form it occurs in the
following. Lhuyd, (in the appendix to Baxter's glossary), referring to
Hespin as the name of sundry small streams in Wales, derives it from
_hespin_, a sheep that yields no milk, because these streams are almost
dry in summer. This derivation is unquestionably false so far as this,
that the two words are merely derived from the same origin, viz., Welsh
_hesp_ or _hysp_, dry, barren. But whether this word has anything to do
with the following names is doubtful; it seems at any rate unsuitable
for the large rivers, such as the Hydaspes, (the Jhylum of the Punjaub).
From the derivation of Mone, who finds in Isper, as in Wipper, p. 64, a
word _per_, mountain, I entirely dissent.
1. _France._ The ASPE. Basses--Pyrenees.
_Germany._ HESAPA ant., now the HESPER.
_Greece._ ASOPUS ant. Two rivers.
2. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ ISPERA, 10th cent. The ISPER.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ilchester (=Ivel-chester) situated on this river, is called in
Ptolemy Ischalis, from which we may presume that the river was called
the Ischal, a word which would be a synonyme of Ivel.
[2] It seems rather probable that the ending _es_ in these names is not
a mere suffix. The APSARUS, ancient name of the Tchoruk in Armenia, and
the IPSALA in Europ. Turkey, by superadding the endings _er_ and _el_,
go to show this. We might perhaps presume a Sansc. word _abhas_, or
_aphas_, with the meaning of river.
[3] This ending is not explained. Zeuss, comparing the endings _er_ and
_st_, suggests a comparative and superlative, which is not probable. In
the present, as in some other cases, I take it to be only a phonetic
form of _ss_, and make Ambastus properly Ambassus. But in some other
cases, as that of the Nestus, which compares with Sansc. _nisitas_,
fluid, it seems to be formative.
[4] This looks like a mistake for Acasse.
[5] So that there _is_ a river in Monmouth, and another in Macedon.
[6] "Hysa nunc fluvii nomen est, qui antiquitus Hysara dicebatur."
(_Folcuin. Gest. Abb. Lobiens._) This seems not improbably to refer to
the Oise.
[7] If, as Pott suggests, the Vedra of Ptolemy = Eng. _water_, the
Wetter would naturally come in here also. But some German writers, as
Roth and Weigand, connect it with Germ. _wetter_, Eng. _weather_, in the
sense, according to the first-named, of the river which is affected by
rain.
[8] This ending may either be formed by the addition of a phonetic _n_
to the ending _er_; or it may be from a word _ren_, channel, river,
hereafter noticed.
[9] The Scotch ETTRICK and the Germ. EITRACH I take to be synonymous,
though the ending in one case is German, and in the other probably
Gaelic. (_See p. 25_)
[10] Hence perhaps Anitabha (_abha_, water), the Sansc. name of a river,
not identified, in India.
[11] Tacitus gives this name to the Avon--in mistake, as the Editor of
Smith's Ancient Geography suggests. But _anton_ and _avon_ seem to have
been synonymous words for a river.
[12] Hence the name of Dover, anc. Dubris, according to Richard of
Cirencester, from the small stream which there falls into the sea.
[13] Where is this river, cited by Zeuss, (_Gramm. Celt._)?
[14] Hence probably the name of Zurich, ant. Turicum.
[15] Perhaps formed from _ez_ by a phonetic _n_.
[16] I do not in this case make any account of the spelling; the name is
just the same as our Lee, and the idea of _lys_, a lily, is no doubt
only suggested by the similarity of sound.
[17] Manual of Comparative Philology.
[18] Niebuhr derives this name from a Sabine word signifying sulphur,
which is largely contained in its waters. Mr. Charnock suggests the
Phœn. _naharo_, a river.
[19] Niemen may perhaps = Nieven--_m_ for _v_, as in Amon for Avon, p.
26.
[20] Perhaps to be found in Sansc. _nistas_, wet, fluid. Here we get
something of a clue to Eng. "nasty," the original meaning of which has
no doubt been nothing but water "in the wrong place."
[21] "One of the sacred rivers of India, a river mentioned in the Veda,
and famous in the epic poems as the river of Ayodhyâ, one of the
earliest capitals of India, the modern Oude."--_Max Müller, Science of
Language._
[22] I place this here on the authority of Max Müller, who, pointing out
that the initial _h_ in Persian corresponds with a Sanscrit _s_, thinks
that the river Sarayu may have given the name to the river Arius or
Heri, and to the country of Herat.
[23] This name seems formed at thrice--first Sarit--then ov, (perhaps
_av_ river)--lastly, the Slavish affix _ka_.
[24] See note p. 29.
[25] In the more special sense of lake, which, it will be observed, is
frequent in this group, is the Suio-Lapp. _pluewe_.
[26] The word _asp_ comes before us in some other river-names, but
respecting its etymology I am quite in the dark. From the way in which
it occurs in the above, in the Zari(aspis), and in the Hyd(aspes), it
seems rather likely to have the meaning of water or river.
[27] Also ALLISON and ELLISON, which may be either patronymic forms in
_son_; or formed with the ending in _en_, like the above river-names.
For the names of rivers, and the ancient names of men, in many points
run parallel to each other.
[28] Following strictly the above Celt. word _uaran_, this might be
"Fresh-water Bay."
[29] The Araxes of Herodotus, observes the Editor of Smith's Ancient
Geography, "cannot be identified with any single river: the name was
probably an appellative for a river, and was applied, like our Avon, to
several streams, which Herodotus supposed to be identical." Araxes I
take to be a Græcism, and the Mod. name Aras to show the proper form.
[30] Containing the Latin _amnis_, river, or only a euphonic form of
Clitunnus? See Garumna, p. 13.
[31] I think that in this, as probably in some other cases, _st_ is only
a phonetic form of _ss_, and that the Mod. name _Aiss_ points truly to
the ancient form as _Agass_, see note, p. 29.
[32] I should without hesitation have taken the PINKA, as well as the
Russian PINEGA, to be from this root, with the Slavonic affix _ga_ or
_ka_. But the English river PENK in Staffordshire introduces an element
of doubt. It may, however, also be from this root, with the ending _ick_
common in the rivers of Scotland. See p. 25.
[33] This river seems also to have been called anciently CHOCHARA.
[34] Here also, as in the case of the German Chuchilibach, and the
Cocbrôc before noted, the ending beck (= brook), seems to have been
added to the original name. Chuchilibach appears as the name of a place,
but I apprehend that the word implies a stream of the same name.
[35] I think that these quantities, so far as they are derived from the
Latin poets, should be accepted with some reserve. Unless more
self-denying than most of their craft, I fear that they would hardly let
a Gallic river stand in the way of a lively dactyl.
[36] I do not know any other instance of this ending in river-names, but
I take it to be, like _man_ or _main_, an extension of _may_, and to
signify water or river.
CHAPTER V.
THAT WHICH RUNS RAPIDLY, FLOWS GENTLY, OR SPREADS WIDELY.
In the preceding chapter I have included the words from which I have not
been able to extract any other sense than that of water. As I have
before mentioned, it is probable that in some instances there may be
fine shades of difference which would remove them out of that category,
but whenever I have thought to have got upon the trace of another
meaning, something has in each case turned up to disappoint the
conditions.
In the present chapter, which comprehends the words which describe a
river as that which runs rapidly, that which flows gently, that which
spreads widely, there may still in some cases be something of an
appellative sense, because there may be a general word to denote a
rapid, a smooth, or a spreading stream.
Among the rivers noted for their rapidity is the Rhone. This is the
characteristic remarked by all the Latin poets--
Testis Arar, Rhodanusque celer, magnusque Garumna.
_Tibullus._
Qua Rhodanus raptim velocibus undis
In mare fert Ararim.
_Silv. Ital._
Præcipitis Rhodani sic intercisa fluentis.
_Ausonius._
I think that Donaldson and Mone are unquestionably wrong in making the
name of this river Rho-dan-us, from a word _dan_, water. Still more
unreasonable is a derivation in the _Cod. Vind._, from _roth_, violent,
and _dan_, Celt. and Hebr. a judge! On this Zeuss (_Gramm. Celt._)
remarks--"The syllable _an_ of the word Rhodanus is without doubt only
derivative, and we have nothing here to do with a judge; nevertheless
the meaning violent (currens, rapidus,) is not to be impugned." The
word in question seems to be found in Welsh _rhedu_, to run, to race,
Gael. _roth_, a wheel, &c. But there is a word of opposite meaning,
Gael. _reidh_, smooth, which is liable to intermix. Also the Germ.
_roth_, red, may come in, though I do not think that Förstemann has
reason in placing all the German rivers to it.
1. _England._ The ROTHA. Lake district.
_Germany._ ROT(AHA), 8th cent. The ROTH, two rivers, the ROTT,
three rivers, the ROD(AU), the ROD(ACH), and the
ROTT(ACH), all seem to have had the same ancient
name.
RAD(AHA) ant., now the ROD(ACH).
_Holland._ The ROTTE, by Rotterdam.
_Asia Min._ RHODIUS ant.[37] Mysia.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The RODDEN. Shropshire.
_France._ RHODĂNUS ant., now the Rhone.
_Germany._ The ROTHAINE near Strassburg, seems to have been
formerly ROT(AHA).
3. _With the ending ent._[38]
_Germany._ RADANTIA, 8th cent., now the REDNITZ.
4. _With the ending er._
_England._ The ROTHER in Sussex.
The ROTHER, joins the Thames at Rotherhithe.
5. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ RAOTULA, 8th cent., now the RÖTEL.
Allied to the last word is the Eng. _race_, and the many cognate words
in the Indo-European languages which have the sense of rapid motion, as
Welsh _rhysu_, &c.
1. _Scotland._ The RASAY. Rosshire.
_Ireland._ The ROSS.
_Germany._ The RISS. Wirtemberg.
_Switzerland._ The REUSS. Joins the Aar.
_Russia._ The RASA.
_Spain._ The RIAZA.
_Asia Min._ RHESUS of Homer not identified.
_India._ RASA, the Sanscrit name of a river not identified.
2. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ The ROSSL(AU). Joins the Elbe.
3. _With the ending et._
_Germany._ The REZAT. Joins the Rednitz.
From the Gael. _garbh_, Welsh _garw_, violent, Armstrong derives the
name of the Garonne and other rivers.[39] The root seems to be found in
Sansc. _karv_ or _karp_, Latin _carpo_, &c., implying violent action.
The Lat. _carpo_ is applied by the poets to denote rapid progress, as of
a river, through a country. So likewise more metaphorically to the
manner in which a bold and steep mountain rises from the valley. As also
one of our own poets has said--
Behind the valley topmost Gargarus
Stands up and _takes_ the morning--
Hence this root is found in the names of mountains as well as
rivers--_e.g._, the Carpathians (Carpātes), and the Isle of Carpăthus,
which "consists for the most part of bare mountains, rising to a central
height of 4,000 feet, with a steep and inaccessible coast."[40]
1. _Scotland._ GARF water, a burn in Lanarkshire.
The GRYFFE. Renfrew.
_Germany._ The GRABOW. Pruss. Pom.
_Danub. Prov._ CARPIS, Herodotus, see p. 73.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The GIRVAN. Ayr.
_Italy._ The CARPINO. Joins the Tiber.
The GRAVINO. Naples.
3. _With the ending el._
_Italy._ CERBALUS[41] ant., now the CERVARO--here?
From the Sansc. _su_, to shoot forth, _sûs_, _sûtis_, rushing or
darting, Gr. σουσις, cursus, I take to be the following. Among the
derived words, the Gael. _sûth_, a billow, seems to be that which comes
nearest to the sense required.
1. _Switzerland._ The SUSS.
_Denmark._ The SUUS(AA).
_Bohemia._ The SAZ(AWA). Joins the Moldau.
_Portugal._ The SOUZA.
_Siberia._ The SOS(VA), two rivers.
_India._ The SUT(OODRA), or Sutledge--here?[42]
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ The SUZON.
_Russia._ The SOSNA, two rivers.
Probably to the above we may put a form _sest_, _sost_, found in the
following.
1. _Germany._ The SOESTE. Oldenburg.
_Italy._ SESSITES ant., now the Sesia.
_Persia._ SOASTUS or SUASTUS ant.
2. _With the ending er._
_Russia._ The SESTRA. Gov. Moskow.
_Germany._ The SOSTER(BACH). Joins the Lippe.
To the above root I also place the following, corresponding more
distinctly with Old High German _schuzzen_, Ang.-Sax. _sceotan_, Eng.
_shoot_, Obs. Gael. and Ir. _sciot_, dart, arrow.[43]
1. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ SCUZNA, 8th cent., now the SCHUSSEN.
SCUZEN ant., now the SCHOZACH.
2. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ SCUTARA, 10th cent., now the SCHUTTER, two rivers.
SCUNTRA, 8th cent., now the SCHONDRA and the SCHUNTER.
From the Germ. _jagen_, to hunt, to drive or ride fast, Bender derives
the name of the Jaxt, in the sense of swiftness, suggesting also a
comparison with the ancient Jaxartes of Asia. Förstemann considers both
suggestions doubtful, but the former seems to me to be reasonable
enough. The older sense of _jagen_ is found in the Sansc. _yug_, to
dart forth, formed on the simple verb _ya_, to go. And appellatives are
found in the Finnic words _jokk_, _jöggi_, a river. As for the Jaxartes,
I am rather inclined to think that the more correct form would be
Jazartes, and that it contains the word _jezer_, before referred to.
1. _Russia._ The JUG. Joins the Dwina.
2. _With the ending et._
_Italy._ JACTUS ant. Affluent of the Po.
_Persia._ The JAGHATU.
_Germany._ The JAHDE,[44] in Oldenburg.
3. _With the ending st._
_Germany._ JAGISTA ant., now the _Jaxt_ or _Jagst_.
From the root _vip_, to move, p. 64, by the prefix _s_, is formed Old
Norse _svipa_, Ang.-Sax. _swîfan_, Eng. _sweep_, &c. In these the sense
varies between going fast and going round, and the same may be the case
in the following names.
_France._ The SUIPPE. Joins the Aisne.
_Germany._ SUEVUS, 2nd cent., now the Warnow, or, according to
Zeuss, the Oder.
SUAB(AHA), 8th cent., now the SCHWAB(ACH).
From the Obs. Gael. _sgiap_, _sgiob_, to move rapidly, Eng. _skip_, may
be the following.
1. _England._ The SHEAF, by Sheffield.
_Germany._ SCIFFA, 9th cent., now the SCHUPF.
_Asia Min._ SCOPAS ant., now the Aladan.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The SKIPPON. Joins the Wyre.
In the Gael. _brais_, impetuous, related perhaps to Lat. _verso_, we may
find the root of the following.
1. _Germany._ The BIRSE. Prussia.
_Switzerland._ The BIRSE. Cant. Berne.
2. _With the ending en._
_Ireland._ The BROSNA. Leinster.
_Transylvania._ The BURZEN. Joins the Aluta.
_Pruss. Pol._ The PROSNA.
3. _With the ending el._
_France._ The BRESLE. Enters the English Channel.
4. _With the ending ent._
_Germany._ The PERSANTE. Pruss. Pom.
From the Sansc. _rab_ or _rav_, to dart forth, whence (in a somewhat
changed sense) Eng. _rave_, French _ravir_, Lat. _rabidus_, &c. The
original meaning of a ravine was a great flood, or as Cotgrave expresses
it--"A ravine or inundation of water, which overwhelmeth all things that
come in its way."
1. _Ireland._ The ROBE. Connaught.
_India._ The RAVEE or Iraotee--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ Various small streams called RAVEN, RAVENBECK, &c.
_France._ The ROUBION, affluent of the Rhone--here?
From the Sansc. _math_, to move, are derived, as I take it, Old High
German _muot_, Mod. Germ. _muth_, Ang.-Sax. _môd_, courage or spirit,
Welsh _mwyth_, swift, &c., to which I place the following.
1. _Switzerland._ The MUOTTA. Cant. Schwytz.
2. _Compounded with vey, stream or river._
_Wales._ The MUTHVEY. Three rivers.
The Sansc. _sphar_, _sphurj_, to burst forth, shews the root of a number
of words such as _spark_, _spring_, _spirt_, _spruce_, _spry_, in which
the sense of briskness or liveliness is more or less contained. But the
Sansc. _sphar_ or _spar_ must be traced back to a simpler form _spa_ or
_spe_, as found in _spew_, to vomit, and in the word _spa_, now confined
to medicinal springs.
1. _Scotland._ The SPEY. Elgin.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The SPEAN.
3. _With the ending er._
_Scotland._ The SPEAR.
_Germany._ SPIRA, 8th cent., now the SPEIER.
The SPREE. Joins the Havel.
Derived forms from the above root are also the following, which
correspond more closely with Germ. _sprütsen_, Ang.-Sax. _sprytan_, Eng.
_spirt_, Ital. _sprizzare_. And I think that most of these names are
probably German.
_England._ The SPRINT, a small stream in Westmoreland.
_Germany._ SPRAZAH, 9th cent., some stream in Lower Austria.
The SPROTTA in Silesia.
SPRENZALA, 8th cent., now the SPRENZEL.
SPURCHINE(BACH),[45] 9th cent., now the
SPIRCKEL(BACH).
_Eu. Turkey._ The SPRESSA. Joins the Bosna.
In the preceding chapter I have treated of the root _al_, _el_, _il_, to
go, and various of its derivations. There is another, _alac_, _alc_,
_ilc_, which, as it seems most probably either to have the meaning of
swiftness, as in the Lat. _alacer_, or of tortuousness, as in the Greek
ἑλικος, I include in this place.
1. _Russia._ The ILEK. Joins the Ural.
_Sicily._ HALYCUS ant., now the Platani.
_Asia Minor._ ALCES ant. Bithynia.
2. _Compounded with may, main, river._
_Siberia._ The OLEKMA. Joins the Lena.
_Germany._ ALKMANA, 8th century, now the Altmühl.
_Greece._ HALIACMON ant., now the Vistritsa.
From the Welsh _tarddu_, to burst forth, we may take the following.
There does not seem any connection between this and the root of _dart_
(jaculum); the latter from the first signifies penetration, and in
river-names comes before us in the oblique sense of clearness or
transparency.
1. _Scotland._ The TARTH. Lanarkshire.
_Libya._ DARĂDUS ant., now the Rio di Ouro.
_Armenia._ DARADAX[46] ant. (Xenophon).
2. _With the ending er._
_France._ The TARDOIRE. Dep. Charente.
_Aust. Italy._ The TARTARO.
3. _With the ending es._
_Spain._ TARTESSUS ant., now the Guadalquiver.
With the Sansc. _till_, to move, to agitate, we may probably connect the
Gael. _dile_ and _tuil_, Welsh _diluw_, _dylif_, _dylwch_, a flood,
deluge, as also Ang.-Sax. _dilgian_, German _tilgen_, to overthrow,
destroy, &c. The Ang.-Sax. _dêlan_, Germ. _thielen_, to divide, in the
sense of boundary, may however intermix in these names.
1. _England._ The TILL. Northumberland.
_Ireland._ The DEEL. Limerick.
_Germany._ The DILL. Nassau.
_Belgium._ THILIA, 9th cent., now the DYLE in Bravant.
_Switzerland._ The THIELE.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ The TOLLEN. Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
3. _With the ending er._
_Scotland._ The DILLAR burn. Lesmahagow.
4. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ The TILSE, by Tilsit.
With the two Welsh forms _dylif_ and _dylwch_, deluge, we may perhaps
connect the following, though for the former the Ang.-Sax. _delfan_, to
dig, _delf_, a ditch, may also be suitable.
_Germany._ DELV(UNDA), 9th century, now the DELVEN(AU).
DELCHANA, 11th century, now the DALCKE.
From the Gael. and Ir. _taosg_, to pour, _tias_, tide, flood, may be the
following. Perhaps the special sense of cataract may come in, at least
in some cases, as two of the under-noted rivers, the Tees and the Tosa,
are noted for their falls.
1. _England._ The TEES. Durham.
_Switzerland._ The TÖSS. Cant. Zurich.
_Piedmont._ The TOSA.
_Russia._ The TESCHA. Joins the Oka.
_Hungary._ TYSIA ant., now the THEISS.
_Greece._ TIASA ant. Laconia.
_India._ The TOUSE--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Switzerland._ The TESSIN or TICINO.
_Germany._ The DESNA. Joins the Dnieper.
_France._ The TACON. Dep. Jura.
3. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ TUSSALE (_Genitive_), 11th cent., now the DUSSEL
by Düsseldorf.
4. _With the ending st._[47]
_England._ The TEST. Hants.
_Germany._ The DISTA. Prussia.
_India._ The TEESTA--here?
From the Sansc. _gad_ or _gand_, Ang.-Sax. _geôtan_, Suio-Goth. _gjuta_,
Danish _gyde_, Old Norse _giosa_, Old High Ger. _giezen_, Obs. Gael.
_guis_, all having the meaning of Eng. "gush," we get the following. The
Gotha or Gœta of Sweden may probably derive its name from the well-known
fall which it makes at Trolhætta. So also the Gaddada of Hindostan is
noted for its falls; and the Giessbach is of European celebrity. But in
some of the other names the sense may not extend beyond that of
wandering, as we find it in Eng. _gad_, which I take to be also from
this root. Or that of stream, as in Old High Germ. _giozo_, Gael. and
Ir. _gaisidh_, rivulus.
1. _England._ The GADE. Herts.
_Scotland._ GADA ant.,[48] now the JED by Jedburgh.
_Germany._ The GOSE. Joins the Ocker.
GEIS(AHA), 8th cent., now the GEISA.
The GANDE, Brunswick--here, or to _can_, _cand_,
pure?
_Switzerland._ The GIESS(BACH). Lake of Brienz.
_Spain._ The GATA. Joins the Alagon.
_Sweden._ The GOTHA or GŒTA.
The GIDEA, enters the G. of Bothnia.
_Asia._ GYNDES (_Herodotus_), perhaps the Diala--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Asia Minor._ CYDNUS ant., now the Tersoos Chai.
3. _With the ending er._
_Persia._ The GADER.
_Sardinia._ CÆDRIUS ant., now the Fiume dei Orosei.
4. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ GISIL(AHA), 8th cent., now the GIESEL--here?
5. _With the ending ed._
_India._ The GADDADA.
6. _Compounded with main, stream._
_Switzerland._ The GADMEN.
From the Sansc. _arb_ or _arv_, to ravage or destroy, cognate with Lat.
_orbo_, &c., may be the following. To the very marked characteristic of
the Arve in Savoy I have referred at p. 6. But there is a word of
precisely opposite meaning, the Celt. _arab_, Welsh _araf_, gentle,
which is very liable to intermix.
1. _France._ The ARVE and the ERVE.
_Germany._ ORB(AHA), 11th cent., now the ORB.
_Sardinia._ The ARVE and the ORBE.
_Hungary._ The ARVA. Joins the Waag.
_Spain._ The ARVA, three rivers, tributaries to the Ebro.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The IRVINE. Co. Ayr.
_France._ ARVENNA ant., now the ORVANNE.
3. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ ARBALO, 1st cent., now the ERPE.
4. _With the ending es._
_Asia Minor._ HARPĂSUS ant., now the HARPA.
In the Sansc. _cal_, to move, and the derivatives Sansc. _calas_, Gr.
κελης, Obs. Gael. _callaidh_, Latin _celer_, all having the same
meaning--the sense of rapidity seems sufficiently marked to include them
in this chapter.
1. _Scotland._ The GALA. Roxburgh.
_Sicily._ GELA ant.[49]
_Illyria._ The GAIL.
_Greece._ CALLAS ant., in Eubœa.
_As. Turkey._ The CHALUS of Xenophon, now the Koweik.
2. _With the ending en._
_Ireland._ The CALLAN. Armagh.
3. _With the ending er = Lat. celer?_
_Italy._ CALOR ant., now the CALORE.
4. _With the ending es = Sansc. calas, &c.?_
_Germany._ CHALUSUS, 2nd cent., supposed to be the Trave.
The KELS, in Bavaria.
_India._ The CAILAS.
I am inclined to bring in here, as a derivative form of _cal_, and
perhaps corresponding with the Obs. Gael. _callaidh_, celer, the forms
_caled_, _calt_, _gelt_. That the Germ. _kalt_, Eng. _cold_, may
intermix, is very probable, but I do not think that all the English
rivers at any rate can be placed to it. There is more to be said for it
in the case of the Caldew than of the others, for one of the two streams
that form it is called the Cald-beck (_i.e._, cold brook), and it seems
natural that the whole river should then assume the name of Caldew (cold
river). Yet there may be nothing more in it than that the Saxons or
Danes who succeeded to the name, adopted it in their own sense, and
_conformed_ to it. It is to be observed that although the form Caldew
corresponds with the Germ. Chaldhowa, yet that the local pronunciation
is invariably Cauda (=Calda), corresponding with the Scandinavian form.
Upon the whole however, there is much doubt about this group; the form
_gelt_ Förstemann refers, as I myself had previously done, to Old Norse
_gelta_, in the sense of resonare. In the following names I take the
Kalit(va) of Russia, and the Celydnus and Celadon of Greece to approach
the nearest to the original form.
1. _England._ The GELT. Cumberland.
The CHELT by Cheltenham--here?
The CALD(EW). Cumberland.
_Germany._ The CALD(HOWA), (_Adam Brem._), now seems to be called
the Aue.
_Russia._ The KALIT(VA). Joins the Donetz.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ GELTEN(AHA), 11th cent., now the GELTN(ACH).
_Greece._ CELYDNUS ant. Epirus.
CELADON ant. Elis.
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The CALDER. Three rivers.
_Scotland._ The CALDER. Joins the Clyde.
_Belgium._ GALTHERA, 9th cent.
I am also inclined to bring in, as another derivative form of _cal_, the
word _calip_, _calb_, _kelp_. The only appellatives I find for it are
the word _kelp_, sea-weed, and the Scottish _kelpie_, a water-spirit,
wherein, as in other words of the same sort, may perhaps lie a word for
water. However, this can be considered as nothing more than a
conjecture.
1. _Germany._ KALB(AHA), 8th cent., now the Kohlb(ach).
The KULPA. Aust. Croatia.
_Hungary._ COLAPIS ant., affluent of the Drave.
_Spain._ The CHELVA. Prov. Valentia.
_Portugal._ CALLĬPUS ant., now the Sadao.
_Asia Minor._ CALBIS ant. Caria.
CALPAS ant. Bithynia.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The KELVIN. Stirling.
The Sansc. _car_, to move, Lat. _curro_, like some other words of the
same sort, branches out into two different meanings--that of going fast,
and that of going round. Hence the river-names from this root have in
some cases the sense of rapidity, and in others of tortuousness; and
these two senses are somewhat at variance with each other, because
tortuousness is more generally connected with slowness. Separating the
two meanings as well as I can, I bring in the following here.
1. _Scotland._ The GARRY. Perthshire.
The YARROW. Selkirkshire.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ GARRHUENUS ant., now the YARE.
_France._ GARUMNA or GARUNNA ant. The GARONNE.
The GIRON. Joins the Garonne.
_Greece._ GERANIUS ant., and GERON ant., two rivers of Elis,
according to Strabo.
3. _With the ending es = Sansc. caras, swift, Lat. cursus, &c._
_France._ The GERS. Joins the Garonne.
CHARES ant., now the CHIERS.
_Germany._ The KERSCH. Joins the Neckar.
_Italy._ The GARZA, by Brescia.
_Hungary._ GERĂSUS ant., now the KOROS.
_Asia Minor._ The CARESUS of Homer in the plain of Troy.
_Syria._ CERSUS ant., now the Merkez.
There appear to be several words in which the sense of violence or
rapidity is brought out by the preposition _pra_, _pro_, _fro_, in
composition with a verb. Thus the Welsh _ffre-uo_, to gush, whence
_ffrau_, a torrent, seems to correspond with the Sansc. _pra-i_, Lat.
_præ-eo_, &c. Or perhaps we should take a verb with a stronger sense,
say _yu_, to gush, and presume a Sansc. _pra-yu_ = Welsh _ffre-uo_. In
the Albanian πρό, a torrent, corresponding with Welsh _ffrau_, there
seems, however, no trace of a verb.
1. _Wales._ The FRAW, by Aberfraw.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The FROON. Falls into L. Lomond.
_Russia._ The PRONIA.
The Welsh _ffrydio_, to stream, to gush, appears to be formed similarly
from the preposition _fra_, joined with the verb _eddu_, to press on, to
go, corresponding with Sansc. _it_, Latin _ito_, &c. Hence it would
correspond with a Sansc. _pra-it_, Lat. _præ-ito_, &c. From the verb
comes the appellative _ffrwd_, a torrent, corresponding with the Bohem.
_praud_, of the same meaning.
_Scotland._ The FORTH. Co. Stirling.
_Danub. Prov._ PORATA (Herodotus). The PRUTH.
_Russia._ The PORT(VA). Gov. Kaluga.
I also bring in here, as much suggestively as determinately, the
following.
_Sansc. pra-pat, Lat. præ-peto, &c., to rush forth._
_Russ. Pol._ The PRIPET. Joins the Dnieper.
_Bulgaria._ The PRAVADI. Falls into the Black Sea.
_Sansc. pra-cal, to rush forth, pra and cal, p. 112._
_Prussia._ The PREGEL. Enters the Frische-Haff.
_Sansc. pra-li, Lat. pro-luo, &c., to overflow._
_India._ The PURALLY.
According to the opinion of Zeuss and Gluck, the DANUBE, (ant. Danubius
and Danuvius, Mod. Germ. Donau,) would come in here. These writers
derive it from Gael. _dan_, Ir. _dana_, fortis, audax, in reference to
its strong and impetuous current. This is no doubt the most striking
characteristic of the river, but it might also not inappropriately be
placed to the root _tan_, to extend, whence the names of some other
large rivers. Gluck considers the ending _vius_ to be simply derivative,
and suggests that the Germans, with a natural striving after a meaning,
altered this derivative ending into their word _ava_, _aha_, _ach_, or
_au_, signifying river. Though Gluck is a writer for whose opinion I
have great respect, and though this is the principle for which I myself
have been all along contending, yet I am rather inclined to think that
in Danuvius, as in Conovius (the Conway), there is contained a definite
appellative, qualified by a prefixed adjective: this seems to me to be
brought out more clearly in the Medway, and in the names connected with
it.
The word Ister, which, according to Zeuss, is the Thracian name of the
Danube, I have elsewhere referred to the Armorican _ster_, a river. Not
that I mean to infer therefrom that the name is Celtic, because _ster_
is only a particular form of an Indo-European word _sur_. If we refer
the prefix _is_ to the Old Norse _isia_, proruere, then Ister would have
the same meaning as that given above to Danubius. But the derivation of
Mone, who explains it by _y_, the Welsh definite article, and _ster_, a
river, making Ister = "The river," I hold with Gluck to be--like other
derivations proceeding on the same principle--opposed to all sound
philology.
Among the rivers noted for the slowness of their course, the most
conspicuous is the Arar or Saone. Cæsar (_de Bell. Gall._) describes it
as flowing "with such incredible gentleness that the eye can scarcely
judge which way it is going." Seneca adopts it as a type of
indecision--"the Arar in doubt which way to flow." Eumenius multiplies
his epithets--"segnis et cunctabundus amnis, tardusque." The name
Sauconna, Sagonna, Saonna, Saone, does not appear before the 4th cent.,
yet there does not seem any reason to doubt that it is as old as the
other. Zeuss (_Die Deutschen_) and the Editor of "Smith's Ancient
Geography" take this as the true Gallic name. And though Armstrong
explains both the Arar and the Saone from the Celtic--referring the
former to the Obs. Gael. _ar_, slow, and the latter to Gael. _sogh_,
tranquil or placid, in which he may probably be correct, yet it by no
means follows that the name of the Arar is Celtic, for _ar_ is an
ancient root of the Indo-European speech. To the same root as the Saone
I also put the Seine (Sequăna), and the Segre (Sicŏris), comparing
them with Lat. _seg-nis_. The former of these rivers is navigable for
350 miles out of 414, and the latter is noted in Lucian as "stagnantem
Sicorim." Some other rivers, in which the characteristic is less
distinct, I also venture to place here, separating this root as well as
I can from another p. 58.
1. _Germany._ SIGA, 10th cent. The SIEG.
_Russia._ The SOJA. Joins the Dnieper.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ SAUCONNA ant. The SAÔNE.
SEQUANA ant. The SEINE.
The SEUGNE. Dep. Charente-Inf.
_Russia._ The SUCHONA. Joins the Dwina.
3. _With the ending er._
_Spain._ SICORIS ant. The SEGRE.
The SEGURA. Enters the Med. Sea.
Perhaps allied in its root to the last is the Gael. _saimh_, quiet,
tranquil, to which I put the following.
1. _Belgium._ The SEMOY.
_Russia._ The SEM or SEIM. Joins the Desna.
SAIMA, a lake in Finland.
_Asia Minor._ The SIMOIS of Homer--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Switzerland._ The SIMMEN, in the Simmen-Thal.
3. _With the ending er._
_France._ SAMARA, ant., now the SOMME.
The SAMBRE, ant. Sabis.
_Germany._ The SIMMER. Joins the Nahe.
_Russia._ The SAMARA. Two rivers.
4. _With the ending et._
_Germany._ SEMITA, 8th cent. The SEMPT.
In the Gael. _ar_, slow, (whence the Arar, p. 118,) is to be found, as I
take it, the root of the Welsh _araf_, mild, gentle. From this Zeuss
(_Gramm. Celt._), derives the name of the Arrăbo, now the Raab. This
root is liable to mix with another, _arv_, p. 109, of precisely opposite
meaning.
_Hungary._ ARRABO ant., now the Raab.
_India._ ARABIS ant., now the Purally.
_Ireland._ The AROB(EG),[50] Co. Cork--here?
I bring in here the word _aram_ or _arm_, which, both in the names of
rivers, and in the ancient names of men, as the German hero Arminius,
needs explanation. The authority of Dr. Donaldson may probably have been
the cause of the reproduction, even in some of the latest English works,
of the mistake of confounding the name Armin, Ermin, or Irmin, with the
word _hermann_, warrior, (from _her_, army, _mann_, homo). That it is
not so is shown by its appearance in the ancient names of women, as
Ermina, Hermena, and Irmina,[51] (daughter of Dagobert the 2nd). And by
the manner in which it forms compounds, as Armenfred, Irminric,
Irminger,[52] Ermingaud, Irminher, &c. For we may take it as a certain
rule that no word, itself a compound, forms other compounds in ancient
names. Indeed, the last of the five names, Irminher, (which is found as
early as the 7th cent.), is formed from the word _her_, army, so that,
according to the above theory, it would be Her-mann-her. The fact then,
as I take it, is that, both in the names of rivers and of men, the root
is simply _arm_ or _irm_, and _armin_ or _irmin_ an extended form, like
those found all throughout these pages. As to its etymology, the word
_aram_, _arm_, in the Teutonic dialects signifying poor or weak, is in
itself unsuitable, but I think that the original meaning may perhaps
rather have been mild or gentle. The root seems to be found in the Gael.
_ar_, slow; and _aram_ may be a corresponding word to the Welsh _araf_.
Baxter, who, though his general system of river-names I hold to be
fallacious, was, for his time, no contemptible etymologist, suggests
something of the sort.
1. _England._ The ARME. Devon.
_Russia._ The URJUM(KA)--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Italy._ ARIMINUS ant., now the Marecchia.
The ARMINE.
3. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ ARMISIA ant., now the ERMS.
In this place I am inclined to bring in the Medway, and some other names
connected with it. Among the various derivations which have been
suggested for this name, that of Grimm deserves the first place, though
I much fear that it is too poetical to be true. He observes, (_Gesch. d.
Deutsch. Sprach._), comparing it with another name--"In Carl's
campaign, A.D. 779, there is a place mentioned in the vicinity of the
Weser, called Medofulli, Midufulli; _medoful_ means poculum mulsi,
(_Hel._ 62, 10); it appears to have been a river, which at present bears
some other name. Of just a similar meaning is the name of the river
Medway flowing through the county of Kent into the Thames--_i.e._,
Ang.-Sax. Meadovaege, Medevaege Medvaege (_Cod. Dip._), from _vaege_,
Old Sax. _wêgi_, Old Norse _veig_, poculum.... I suggest here a
mythological reference: as the rivers of the Greeks and Romans streamed
from the horn or the urn of the river-god, so may also the rivers and
brooks of our ancestors, in a similar mythic fashion, have sprung from
the over-turned mead-cup."
It is a pity to disturb so poetical a theory, coming too as it does from
the highest authority, but I much fear that on a comparison of this name
with all its related forms, it can hardly be substantiated. For the word
does not stand alone--the prefix _med_ is found in several names in
which the second part can hardly be taken to mean poculum, and the
ending _way_ is found in several names of which the former part cannot
mean mulsum. In any case, it seems to me that a Saxon derivation can
hardly be sustained. For Medoăcus, (=Medwacus), occurs as the ancient
name of a river in Venetia--this appears to be precisely the same name
as that of the Medwag or Medway--and in Venetia we can account for a
Celtic element, but not for a German. In Nennius the name stands as
Meguaid or Megwed; and comparing this with a river called the
Medvied(itza) or Medviet(za) in Russia, it would seem rather probable
that the form is not altogether false, but that only it should be Medwed
instead of Megwed. In that case it would probably be only another form
of Medweg, for _d_ and _g_ sometimes interchange in the Celtic dialects,
as in the Gaelic _uidh_ and _uigh_, via, a word which indeed I take to
be related to the one in question. Again, in the Meduāna of France
and the English Medwin, we have a third form of ending, _wân_ or _win_.
And this may probably only be one of those extended forms in _n_ so
common in the Celtic languages.[53] So that the endings _way_, _wân_,
_wied_, in Medway, Meduāna, Medvied(itza), may be slightly differing
forms of a common appellative (p.p. 62, 63), qualified by the prefix
_med_, which we have next to consider. In Gibson's "Etymological
Geography" _med_ is explained as _medius_--Medway = medium flumen--the
river flowing through the middle of the county of Kent--and this I think
is the general acceptation. In the case of the Medina, (ant. Mede),
which divides the Isle of Wight into two equal parts, I should readily
accept such a derivation, but in the case of the Medway it seems to me a
feature scarcely sufficiently obvious to give the name. And I should on
the whole prefer a derivation from the same root as mead, mulsum, viz.,
Sansc. _mid_, to soften, Lat. _mitis_, Gael. _meath_, soft,
mild--finding in Old Norse _mida_, to move slowly or softly, the word
most nearly approximating to the sense, and thus deriving the name of
the Medway from its gentle flow.
Nevertheless it must be observed that as well as the supposed river
Medofulli referred to as above by Grimm, we find in a charter of the
10th cent., a river called Medemelacha, which seems evidently to contain
the Gael. _mealach_, sweet, and to mean "sweet as mead." This river is
near Medemblik on the Zuyder-zee, and I suppose that the name of the
place is corrupted from it.
The following names I place here, though with uncertainty in the case of
some of them.
1. _France._ The MIDOU. Dep. Landes.
_Persia._ MEDUS ant., now the Pulwan.
2. _With the ending en._
_Russia._ The MEDIN(KA). Gov. Kaluga.
3. _Compounded with way, wân, wied, see above._
_England._ The MEDWAY. Kent.
The MEDWIN.
_France._ MEDUĀNA ant., now the Mayenne.
_Italy._ MEDOĂCUS ant., now the Brenta.
_Russia._ The MEDVIED(ITZA).
4. _Compounded with ma, river, p. 60._
_Germany?_ METEMA, in a charter of the 11th cent.
I think, upon the whole, that the general meaning of the root _lam_,
_lem_, _lim_, is smoothness. Though the root-meaning seems rather that
of clamminess or adhesiveness, as found in Sansc. _limpas_, Gr. λιπος,
Lat. _limus_, Old Sax. _lêmo_, Mod. Germ. _lehm_, Eng. _lime_, &c.[54]
In the Gr. λιμνη, lake, the sense becomes that of smooth or standing
water: this, as I take it, is in effect the word found in the Lake
Leman, Loch Lomond, &c. Though the word most immediately concerned is
the Gaelic _liobh_, _liomh_, Welsh _llyfnu_, to smooth; and the Loch
Lomond, (properly Lomon), was also formerly called, as the river which
issues from it is still, Leven, being just another form of the same
word--_v_ and _m_ interchanging as elsewhere noticed. Hence the Welsh
_llifo_, to pour, p. 46, might be apt to intermix in the following. The
Lat. _lambo_, the primitive meaning of which is to lick, is applied to
the gentle washing of a river against its banks--"Quæ loca lambit
Hydaspes,"--_Horace_. Dugdale observes that "at this day divers of those
artificial rivers in Cambridgeshire, anciently cut to drain the fens,
bear the name of Leam, being all muddy channels through which the water
hath a dull or slow passage." In the following names the sense may be
sometimes then that of muddiness, though in general, as I take it, that
of sluggishness.
1. _England._ The LEAM by Leamington.
The LYME. Dorsetshire.
_Germany._ LAMMA, 11th cent. The LAMME.
LAIM(AHA), 8th cent. Not identified.
LEMPHIA, 8th cent. The LEMPE.
_Russia._ The LAMA. Joins the Volga.
The LAM(OV). Gov. Penza.
_Italy._ The LIMA. Joins the Serchio.
_Spain._ LIMÆA ant., now the LIMA.
_Asia Minor._ LAMUS ant., in Cilicia.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The LEMAN. Devonshire.
The LIMEN in Kent. (Limeneâ _Cod. Dip._)
_Scotland._ Loch LOMOND, formerly also called LEVEN.
_Switzerland._ Lake LEMAN, or the Lake of Geneva, (ant. LEMANNUS.)
_Italy._ The LAMONE in Tuscany.
3. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ LAMER, 11th cent. The LAMMER.
_Italy._ The LAMBRO.
_Asia Minor._ LIMYRUS ant., in Lycia.
4. _With the ending et._
_Switzerland._ The LIMMAT. Cant. Zurich.
From the above form _lam_, _lem_, _lim_, I take to be formed by
metathesis _alm_, _elm_, _ilm_. And the lake Ilmen in Russia I take to
be in effect the same word as the lake Leman in Switzerland. In the name
of another lake in Russia, the Karduanskoi-ilmen, it seems to occur as
an appellative. A certain amount of doubt is imported by the coincidence
of two names in which we find a sacred character--the river Almo, which
was sacred to Cybele, and a sacred fountain Olmius mentioned in Hesiod.
The coincidence, however, may be only accidental.
1. _England._ The ALME. Devonshire.
The HELME. Sussex.
ALUM Bay in the Isle of Wight?
_Germany._ ILMA, 8th cent. The ILM, two rivers.
The HELME in Prussia.
_Holland._ The ALM in Brabant.
_Norway._ The ALMA.
_Spain._ The ALHAMA. Prov. Navarra.
_Italy._ The ALMO near Rome.
_Russia._ The ALMA in the Crimea.
_Siberia._ The ILLIM.
_Greece._ OLMEIUS ant. Bœotia.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ The ILMEN(AU). Joins the Elbe.
_Russia._ ILMEN. Lake.
3. _With the ending el._
_Holland._ The ALMELO. Prov. Overijssel.
Perhaps from the Gael. _foil_, slow, gentle, we may get the following.
1. _England._ The FAL by Falmouth.
_Ireland._ The FOIL(AGH). Cork.
The FEALE. Munster.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The FILLAN. Perthshire.
3. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ FILISA, 8th cent. The FILS and the VILS.
In the third division of this chapter I put the names in which the sense
of spreading seems to be found. This sense may have three different
acceptations--first, that, generally, of a wide river--secondly, that of
a river relatively broad and shallow--thirdly, that of a river forming
an estuary at its mouth.
I bring in here the Padus or Po, which, by Metrodorus Scepsius, a Greek
author quoted by Pliny, has been derived from the pine-trees, "called in
the Gallic tongue _padi_," of which there were a number about its
source. A derivation like this jars with common sense, for it is
unreasonable to suppose that the Gauls, coming upon this fine river,
gave it no name until they had tracked it up to its source, and there
made the not very notable discovery that it was surrounded by
pine-trees. Much more probable is it that they came first upon its
mouth, and much more striking would be the appearance that would be
presented to them. For, as Niebuhr observes, "the basin of the Po, and
of the rivers emptying themselves into it was originally a vast bay of
the sea," which by gradual embanking was confined within its present
channels. As then the mouth of the Padus was a vast estuary, so in the
Gael. _badh_, a bay or estuary, I find the explanation of the name. The
root, I apprehend, is Sansc. _pat_, Lat. _pateo_, _pando_, &c., to
spread, and hence, I take it, the name Bander, of several small bays on
the S.W. coast of Asia, of Bantry Bay in Ireland, and of Boderia, the
name given by Ptolemy to the Firth of Forth.
1. _Italy._ PADUS ant. The Po.
_Germany._ BADA, 9th cent., now the BODE.
2. _With the ending en._
_Ireland._ The BANDON. Co. Cork. (Forms a considerable estuary).
_Italy._ PANTANUS ant., now the Lake of Lesina, a salt lagoon
on the Adriatic.
3. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ PATRA, 9th cent., now the PADER.
4. _With the ending es._
_Hungary._ PATHISSUS ant., now the TEMES.[55]
In the Sansc. _parth_, to spread or extend, we may perhaps find the
origin of the following. Can the name of the Parthians be hence derived,
in reference to their well-known mode of fighting?
1. _Germany._ The PARDE. Joins the Elster.
The BORD, in Moravia--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Asia Minor._ PARTHENIUS ant.--here?[56]
In the sense of "that which spreads" I am inclined to bring in the root
_ta_, _tav_, _tan_, _tam_. While in the Gaelic we find _tain_, and the
Obs. _ta_, water, _taif_, sea--in the Welsh we have the verbs _taenu_
and _tafu_, to expand or spread. The latter, I think, must contain the
root-meaning; and the appellatives must rather signify water of a
spreading character. In this sense we find the words _to_, _tû_, _tau_,
in the Hungarian dialects signifying a lake. The Sansc. has _tan_, to
extend, but we must presume a simpler form _ta_, corresponding with the
above Obs. Gael. word for water. Mone explains _tab_, as in Tabuda (the
Scheldt), as "a broad river, especially one with a broad mouth." This
sense no doubt obtains in many of the names of this group, for, as well
as the Scheldt; the Tay, Taw, Teign, and Tamar, all have this character
in a more or less notable degree. In other cases the sense may be that
of comparative broadness--thus the Timavus, though little more than a
mile long, is 50 yards broad close to its source. So the characteristic
of the Dane, as noticed by the county topographers, is that it is "broad
and shallow." And the feature which strikes the topographer is of course
that which would naturally give the name. There are, however, some other
roots which might intermix, as Sansc. _tan_, resonare, Lat. _tono_,
Germ. _tönen_, &c. Also Gael. and Ir. _taam_, to pour; Gael. and Ir.
_tom_, to bathe, Welsh and Ir. _ton_, unda.
_The form Ta, Tab, Tav._
1. _England._ The TAVY and the TAW. Devon.
DEVA ant., the DEE--here?
_Scotland._ TAVUS ant. The TAY.
The DEE, two rivers--here?
_Wales._ The TAW, the TIVY, and the TAVE.
_Ireland._ The TAY. Waterford.
Loch TA in Wexford.
_France._ The DIVE, Dep. Vienne--here?
_Germany._ The THAYA in Moravia.
_Spain._ The DEVA by Placentia--here?
2. _With the ending d or t._
_Scotland._ The TEVIOT in Roxburghshire--here?
_Holland._ TABUDA ant., now the Scheldt.
_Siberia._ The TAVDA.
_India._ The TAPTEE--here?
_The form Tan, Tam._
1. _England._ The TEIGN and the TEANE.
The DANE and the DEANE.
The TAME, three rivers.
_Scotland._ The TEMA. Selkirkshire.
DANUS ant., now the DON.
_France._ DANUS ant., now the Ain.
The DAHME and the DÉAUME.
_Norway._ The TANA.
_Italy._ TIMAVUS ant., now the TIMAO.
_Russia._ TANAIS ant., now the DON.
The TIM and the TOM.
_Greece._ TANUS ant., now the Luku.
2. _With the ending er._
_England._ The TAMAR. Cornwall.
_Belgium._ The DEMER.
_Italy._ TANARUS ant., now the TANARO.
_Spain._ TAMARIS ant., now the TAMBRE.
_Syria._ TAMYRAS ant., (Strabo)--here?
3. _With the ending d._
_England._ TAMEDE (_Cod. Dip._), now the TEME.
_Mauretania._ TAMUDA ant. (_Pliny._)
4. _With the ending es._
_England._ The THAMES. Tamesis (_Cæsar_), Tamesa (_Tacitus_),
Tamese, Temis (_Cod. Dip._), Welsh Tain.
_Hungary._ The TEMES ant. Pathisus, (_see note p. 132_).
From the root _tan_, to extend, we may probably also derive the word
_tang_ found in Hung. _tenger_, sea, Ostiakic (an Ugric dialect of the
Finnic class) _tangat_, river, and in the Dan. _tang_, sea-weed, which
probably contains a trace of an older sense.
1. _Holland._ The DONGE in Brabant.
_Norway._ The TENGS.
2. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ TONGERA, 10th cent., now the TANGER.
_Italy._ TANAGER ant., now the TANAGRO--here?
FOOTNOTES:
[37] This, one of the Homeric rivers, was not identified in the time of
Pliny.
[38] Perhaps formed from _et_ by a phonetic _n_. So the Eamont in
Cumberland seems to have been called in the time of Leland the Eamot.
[39] It will be seen, however, that while admitting this root, I do not
place Garonne to it.
[40] Smith's Ancient Geography.
[41] This river of Apulia, though small in summer, is exceedingly
violent in winter.
[42] "In its upper part it is a raging torrent." _Johnston's Gazetteer._
[43] The derivation of Mone, who makes _scuz_ and _scut_ altered forms
of _srot_ or _srut_, is not to be entertained.
[44] I am not sure that the Jahde of Oldenburg does not contain the more
definite idea of a horse (Eng. _jade_, North. Eng. _yawd_). There are
three rivers near together, the Haase, the Hunte, and the Jahde. It
rather seems as if the popular fancy had got up the idea of a hunt, and
named them as the Hare, the Hound, and the Horse.
[45] Förstemann derives this, along with some other local names, from
Old High Germ. _spurcha_, the juniper-tree. But I think that the stream
at least is to be explained better from the Sansc. _sphurj_, to burst
forth, Lat. _spargo_.
[46] The ending _x_ I take to be a Græcism for _s_.
[47] In these names we may perhaps think of the Bohem. _dest_, rain. The
Teesta is much swollen in the rainy season, but perhaps not more so than
most of the other rivers of Hindostan. In Hamilton's East Indian
Gazetteer, it is explained as "_tishta_, standing still,"--a derivation
which seems hardly to agree with the subsequent description of its
"quick stream."
[48] Hence Baxter derives the name of the Gadeni--"Quid enim Gadeni nisi
ad Gadam amnem geniti?"
[49] The Gela is at times a very violent stream, as the following
description of Ovid bears witness.
"Et te vorticibus non adeunde Gela."
_Fasti. 4, 470._
[50] This ending may be the same as the Scotch _eck_ or _ick_, p. 25.
[51] Förstemann, Altdeutsches Namenbuch. (Vol. 1. Personennamen).
[52] The names ARMINE and ARMINGER, (of which IREMONGER may be a
corruption), occur in Lower's Patronymica Britannica. And ARMINGAUD is
one of the many names of German or Frankish origin still found in
France.
[53] E. G. Welsh _lli_, _llion_, stream, _llif_, _llifon_, flood,
_srann_, _srannan_, humming, &c.
[54] Hence perhaps Lemanaghan, a parish of Leinster, which consists
chiefly of bog.
[55] The names Pathissus and Temes I take to have the same meaning. I
know no reason for supposing that the one name is less ancient than the
other.
[56] The derivation of Strabo, from _parthenos_, virgin, in reference to
the flowers on its banks, seems rather far-fetched.
CHAPTER VI.
CHARACTER OF COURSE.
In the inscription of Pul found at Nineveh, as deciphered in the
Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, vol. 19, pt. 2, the Euphrates is
called the Irat, which is conjectured by the translator to have been a
local name. It seems to be from the Sansc. _irat_ (=Latin _errans_, Eng.
_errant_), from the verb _ir_, Lat. _erro_, to wander. The same word
seems to be found in the Irati of Spain--perhaps also in the Orontes
(=Irantes=Irates), of Syria. Possibly also in the Erid-anus or Po,
though I am rather inclined to agree with Latham that the word contained
therein is only _ridan_.[57] Perhaps then the form Irt or Urt in
river-names may be a contracted form of _irat_, as we find it in the
Germ. _irrthum_, a mistake.
1. _England._ The IRT. Cumberland.
URTIUS ant., now the IRTHING.
_Belgium._ URTA, 9th cent., now the OURT.
The ERENS.
_Spain._ The IRATI. Prov. Navarra.
_Asia._ IRAT, a name of the Euphrates.
2. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ URTELLA, 9th cent., now the Sensbach.
From the Sansc. _bhuj_, Goth. _bjugan_, Welsh _bwäu_, Gael. _bogh_, Eng.
_bow_, &c., in the sense of tortuousness, we may take the following.
1. _England._ The BOWE. Shropshire.
_Scotland._ The BOGIE. Aberdeen.
_Russia._ The BUG. Joins the Dnieper.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ The BOGEN. Joins the Danube.
3. _With the ending et._
_Scotland._ The BUCKET. Aberdeen.
From the Gael. and Welsh _cam_, to bend, Sansc. _kamp_, Gr. καμπω, are
the following.
_England._ The CAM by Cambridge.
_Germany._ CAMBA, 8th cent. The KAMP.
The CHAM in Bavaria.
_Switzerland._ The KAM.
_Norway._ The KAM. Joins the Glommen.
_Russia._ The KAMA. Joins the Volga.
The KEMI. Two rivers.
The Sansc. root _car_, to move, branches out into two different
meanings, that of rapidity and that of circuitousness, the former of
which I have included in the previous chapter. In the latter sense we
have the Gael. _car_ or _char_, tortuous, the Ang.-Sax. _cêrran_, to
turn or bend, &c., to which I place the following.
1. _England._ The CHAR. Dorsetshire.
The CHOR. Lancashire.
The KERR. Middlesex.
_Scotland._ COR(ABONA)[58] ant. The CARRON.
_France._ The CHER. Joins the Loire.
_Greece._ CHARES ant. Colchis.
_Persia._ CYRUS ant., now the KUR.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ CIRENUS ant. The CHURNE (Gloucestershire).
_France._ The CHARENTE.
3. _With the ending el._
_Greece._ CORĂLIS ant. Bœotia.
CURALIUS ant. Thessaly.
_Russia._ The KOROL. Joins the Dnieper.
From the Old High Germ. _crumb_, Mod. German _krumm_, Danish _krumme_,
Gael. and Welsh _crom_, curving or bending, we may take the following.
The root seems to be found in the Sansc. _kram_, to move, to go, which,
as in other similar cases, may also diverge into the meaning of
rapidity.
1. _England._ The CRUMM(OCK), formerly CRUM(BECK), which forms the
lake of the same name.
_Germany._ CRUMB(AHA), 10th cent., now the GRUMB(ACH).
_Russia._ The KROMA. Gov. Orel.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ CHRUMBIN(BACH), 8th cent., now the KRUM(BACH).
3. _With the ending er._
_Italy._ CREMERA ant. in Etruria.
4. _With the ending es._
_Germany._ The KREMS. Joins the Danube.
_Sicily._ CREMISUS ant.
For the root _sid_ we have the Welsh _sid_, winding, and the Anglo-Saxon
_sîd_, broad, spreading. The former is, I think, the sense contained in
the following, though both words may be from the same root.
1. _England._ The SID. Devonshire.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The SEATON. Cornwall.
3. _With the ending rn, p. 34._
_Switzerland._ SITERUNA, 8th cent., now the SITTER or SITTERN.
Baxter's derivation of the Derwent from Welsh _derwyn_, to wind, appears
to me the most suitable. That of Zeuss (taking the form Druentia), from
_dru_, oak, seems insufficient; because the number of names, all in the
same form, seem to indicate that the word contained must be something
more than _dru_. That of Armstrong, from _dear_, great, _amhain_, river,
is founded upon a careless hypothesis that the Derwent of Cumberland is
the largest river in the North of England, which is not by any means the
case.
_England._ The DERWENT. Four rivers.
TREONTA ant. The TRENT.
_France._ DRUENTIA ant., now the DURANCE.
_Germany._ The DREWENZ. Prussia.
_Italy._ TRUENTIUS ant., now the TRENTO.
_Russia._ TURUNTUS ant., now the DUNA.
In the sense of tortuousness I am inclined to bring in the following,
referring them to Old Norse _meis_, curvatura, Eng. _maze_, &c. This
seems most suitable to the character of the rivers, as the Maese or
Meuse, and the Moselle. The word seems wanting in the Celtic, unless we
think of the Welsh _mydu_, to arch, to vault. The other word which might
put in a claim is _mos_, which, in the sense of marsh, is to be traced
both in the Celtic and German speech, and whence, as supposed, the name
of the ancient Mysia or Mœsia.
1. _England._ The MAESE. Derbyshire.
_Scotland._ The MASIE. Aberdeen.
_France, &c._ MOSA, 1st cent. B.C. The MAAS, MAES, or MEUSE.
_Germany._ MISS(AHA), 8th cent. The MEISS(AU).
The MIES in Bohemia.
2. _With the ending en._
_Italy._ The MUSONE. Two rivers.
3. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ MOSELLA, 1st cent. The MOSELLE.
The only names which appear to contain an opposite sense to the
foregoing are the BEINA of Norway, and the BANE of Lincolnshire, which
seem to be from Old Norse _beinn_, North Eng. _bain_, straight, direct.
FOOTNOTES:
[57] That is, if it be the name of any real river falling into the
Baltic, (the Rhodaune by Dantzic is suggested by some); but according to
Heeren and Sir G. Lewis the Eridanus was a purely poetical stream,
without any geographical position or character.--_See an article by Sir
G. Lewis in Notes and Queries, July 3, 1858._
[58] In this case the ending _en_ is very clearly a contraction of
_abon_ or _avon_, river.
CHAPTER VII.
QUALITY OF WATERS.
There are a number of river-names in which the sense of clearness,
brightness, or transparency is to be traced. From the Sansc. _cand_, to
shine, Lat. _candeo_, Welsh, Ir. Arm., and Obs. Gael. _can_, white,
clear, pure, we get the following. But the Gael. and Ir., _caoin_, soft,
gentle, is a word liable to intermix.
1. _England._ The CANN. Essex.
The KEN or KENT. Westmoreland.
The KENNE. Devonshire.
_Scotland._ The KEN. Joins the Dee.
The CONN. CONA of Ossian.
CANDY burn. Lanarkshire.
_Wales._ The CAIN. Merioneth.
_Germany._ CONE, 9th cent., now the COND.
_Russia._ The KANA. Gov. Yeniseisk.
_India._ The CANE or KEN--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The CONAN. Dingwall.
_Italy._ The CANTIANO. Pont. States.
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The CONDER. Lancashire.
The CONNER. Cornwall.
_Switzerland._ The KANDER.
4. _Compounded with vi, wy, river._
_Wales._ CONOVIUS ant. The CONWAY.
The Old Celtic word _vind_, found in many ancient names of persons and
places, as Vindo, Vindus, Vindanus,[59] Vindobona, Vindobala, &c.,
represents the present Welsh _gwyn_ (=_gwynd_), and the Ir. _finn_
(=_find_), white. "The Celt. _vind_," observes Gluck, "comes from the
same root as the Goth. _hveit_; it stands for _cvind_ with an intrusive
_n_; the root is _cvid_ = the Germ. root _hvit_." The meaning in
river-names is bright, clear, pure.
1. _England._ The VENT. Cumberland.
The QUENNY. Shropshire.
_Wales._ The GWYNEDD (=GWYND?)
_Ireland._ The FINN. Ulster.
_France._ The VENDÉE. Dep. Vendée.
_Russia._ The VIND(AU) or WIND(AU).
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The FINNAN. Inverness.
3. _With the ending er._
_England._ The lake WINDER(MERE)?[60]
_Ireland._ WINDERIUS; _Ptolemy_, a river not identified.
4. _With the ending rn, p. 34._
_Scotland._ The FINDHORN. Inverness.
5. _With the ending el._
_England._ The WANDLE. Surrey.
_Germany._ FINOLA, 8th cent., now the VEHNE.
From the Welsh _llwys_, clear, pure, Gael. _las_, to shine, Gael. and
Ir. _leus_, light, cognate with Old Norse _lios_, clear, pure, Lat.
_luceo_, &c., I derive the following. The Gael. _lâ_, _lo_, day, must, I
think, contain the root.
1. _England._ The LIZA. Cumberland.
_Scotland._ The LOSSIE. Elgin.
_France._ The LEZ. Dep. Herault.
_Belgium._ The LESSE.
_Germany._ The LOOSE. Pruss. Sax.
2. _With the ending en._
_France._ The LIZENA.
_Sweden._ The LJUSNE. Falls into the Gulf of Bothnia.
3. _With the ending er._
_Germany._ LESURA, 11th cent., now the LIESER.
LYSERA, 10th cent., now the LEISER.
From the root of the above, by the prefix _g_, is formed Gael. and Welsh
_glas_, blue or green, (perhaps originally rather transparent), and the
Old Norse _gladr_, Old High Germ. _glatt_, shining.
_Scotland._ The GLASS. Inverness.
GLASS. A lake, Rosshire.
_Germany._ The GLATT. Hohenzollern Sig.
_Switzerland._ GLATA, 8th cent. The GLATT.
Also from the same root come Gael., Ir., and Arm. _glan_, Welsh _glain_,
pure, clear, Eng. _clean_.
_England._ The GLEN. Northumberland.
The GLEN. Lincolnshire.
The CLUN. Shropshire.
_France._ The GLANE.
_Germany._ GLANA, 8th cent. The GLAN, two rivers, and the
GLON, three rivers.
_Switzerland._ The KLÖN, a small but beautiful lake in the
Klönthal--here, or to _klein_, little?
_Italy._ CLANIS ant., now the CHIANA.
CLANIUS ant., in Campania.
_Illyria._ The GLAN, in Carinthia.
From the Old High Germ. _hlutar_, Mod. Germ. _lauter_, pure, Förstemann
derives the following rivers of Germany. Hence also the name of
Lauterbrunnen (_brunnen_, fountain), in Switzerland.
_Germany._ HLUTR(AHA), 7th cent. The LAUTER, the LUDER, the LUTTER.
The SOMMERLAUTER in Wirtemberg seems to merit the title
of pureness only in summer.
The following names I think can hardly be referred to the same origin as
the above, though according to Lhuyd, who derives them from Welsh
_gloew_, clear, and _dwr_, water, they would have the same meaning.
_England._ The LOWTHER. Westmoreland.
_Scotland._ The LAUDER. Berwickshire.
_France._ The LAUTER.
In the Gael. and Ir. _ban_, white, we may probably find the meaning of
the following.
_Ireland._ The BANN. Three rivers.
_Scotland._ The BANN(OCK) by Bannockburn.
_Bohemia._ The BAN(ITZ).
Of the two following names the former may be referred to the Welsh
_claer_, and the latter to the Swed. _klar_, both same as Eng. _clear_.
_Ireland._ The CLARE. Connaught.
_Sweden._ The KLARA (_â_, river).
From the Welsh _têr_, pure, clear, we may get the following. The root is
found in Sansc. _tar_, to penetrate, whence _taras_, transparent.
1. _Italy._ The TARO. Joins the Po.
_Siberia._ The TARA. Joins the Tobol.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The TEARNE. Shropshire.
The DEARNE. Yorkshire.
_France._ The TARN. Joins the Garonne.
3. _With the ending es._
_Hungary._ The TARISA.
The following two rivers of Germany may, as suggested by Förstemann, be
referred to Old High Germ. _flât_, pure, bright.
1. _Germany._ FLAD(AHA), 8th cent. Not identified.
2. _With the ending enz._
_Germany._ FLADINZ, 11th cent., now the FLADNITZ.
The root _bil_ I have, in river-names generally, referred at p. 84 to
the Celtic _biol_, water. But in the Slavonic districts we may also
think of the Slav. _biala_, white, though we cannot say but that even
there the Celtic word may intermix.
_Germany._ The BILA in Bohemia.
The BIALA in Silesia.
_Russia._ The BIELAYA. Joins the Kama.
The BIALY. Joins the Narew.
From the Old High Germ. _swarz_, Mod. Germ. _schwarz_, black, are the
names of several rivers of Germany, as the SCHWARZA, the SCHWARZAU, the
SCHWARZBACH, &c. Also in Norway we have two rivers called SVART ELV, and
in Sweden the SVART AN, which falls into the Mälar Lake. From the Old
Norse _doeckr_, dark, may be the DOKKA in Norway, but for the DOCKER of
Lancashire the Gael. _doich_, swift, may be more suitable.
The Welsh _du_, Gael. _dubh_, black, probably occurs in river-names, but
I have taken, p. 36, the meaning of water, as found in Obs. Gael. _dob_,
to be the general one. The Welsh _dulas_, dark or blackish blue, is
found in the DOWLES of Shropshire, and in several streams of Wales. The
DOUGLAS of Lanarkshire shews the original form of the word, from _du_,
black, and _glas_, blue.
The root _sal_ I have taken at p. 76 to have in some cases the simple
meaning of water. But in the following the quality of saltness comes
before us as a known characteristic.
_Germany._ SALZ(AHA), 8th cent. The SALZA by Salzburg.
SALISUS, 8th cent., now the SELSE.
The SALZE. Joins the Werre.
_Hungary._ The SZALA.[61] Falls into Lake Balaton.
Of an opposite character are the following, which we may refer to Welsh
_melus_, Gael. and Ir. _milis_, sweet, _millse_, sweetness. Some other
rivers, as the ancient MELAS in Asia Minor, now the Kara-su (Black
river), and three rivers of the same name in Greece, must be referred to
Gr. μελας, black.
_Germany._ MILZISSA, 8th cent., now the Mülmisch.
MILSIBACH, 11th cent.
_Portugal._ MELSUS ant. (Strabo).
FOOTNOTES:
[59] The three first are names of persons, and to them we might perhaps
refer the present family names WINDOW, WINDUS, VINDIN; though Windo and
Winidin were also ancient German names.--(_Förstemann's Altdeutsches
Namenbuch._) The Welsh name GWYN and the Irish FINN represent the later
form of the word.
[60] Or, as I have elsewhere derived it, from the man's name Winder,
still found in the district.
[61] The waters of Lake Balaton are described as "slightly salt," and I
assume from the name that the Szala is the river from which its saltness
is derived.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SOUND OF THE WATERS.
The GRETA in the English Lake District has been generally derived from
Old Norse _grâta_, Scotch _greet_, to weep or mourn, in allusion to the
wailing sound made by its waters. There is also a GRETA in Westmoreland
and a GRETA BECK in Yorkshire. In the Obs. Gael. and Ir., _greath_ also
signifies a noise or cry, so that it is quite possible that the original
Celtic name may have been retained in the same sense.
Of an opposite meaning to the above is the name BLYTHE of several small
rivers in England. I do not see how this can be otherwise derived than
from the Ang.-Sax. _blithe_, merry. And how appropriate this is to many
of our English streams we hardly need poetic illustration to tell us.
Of a corresponding meaning with the Saxon name Blythe may be the AVOCA
or OVOCA of Wicklow, the OBOKA of Ptolemy. Baxter refers it to Welsh
_awchus_, acer, a word of no very cheerful association for the spot
where
"Nature has spread o'er the scene
Her purest of crystal, and brightest of green."
The Gael. _abhach_, blithe, sportive, would seem to give a better etymon
for the bright waters of Avoca. Whether the OCKER of Germany (ant.
OBOCRA, OVOCRA, OVOKARE), may be derived from the same word I do not
know sufficient to judge.
From the Gr. βρέμω, Lat. _fremo_, Ang.-Sax. _bremman_, to roar, Old
Norse _brim_, roaring or foaming of the sea, Welsh _ffrom_, fuming,
Gael. _faram_, din, I take the following. The following description
given by Strabo[62] of the Pyramus shews the appropriateness of the
derivation. "There is also an extraordinary fissure in the mountain,
(Taurus), through which the stream is carried.... On account of the
winding of its course, the great contraction of the stream, and the
depth of the ravine, _a noise, like that of thunder, strikes at a
distance on the ears of those who approach it_."
1. _England._ The FROME. Five rivers.
The FRAME. Dorsetshire.
_Germany._ BRAM(AHA) or BREM(AHA), 9th cent., a stream in
Odenwald.
PRIMMA, 9th cent. Near Worms.
The PRÜM in Prussia.
_Denmark._ The BRAM(AUE) in Holstein.
_Italy._ FORMIO ant. in Venetia.
_Asia Minor._ PYRAMUS ant., now the Jihun.
2. _With the ending t._
_Germany._ The PFREIMT in Bavaria.
3. _With the ending nt._
_Germany._ PREMANTIA, 9th cent., now the PRIMS.
4. _With the ending es._
_Greece._ PERMESSUS ant. Bœotia.
In the Gael. _fuair_, sound, _faoi_, a noisy stream, we may perhaps find
the origin of the FOWEY in Cornwall, and of the FOYERS in Inverness, the
latter of which is noted as forming one of the finest falls in Britain.
From the Gael. _gaoir_, din, we may derive the GAUIR in Perthshire; and
from _toirm_ of the same meaning, perhaps the TERMON in Ulster. Hence
might also be the TROME and the TRUIM, elsewhere derived at p. 70.
From the Gael. _durd_, _durdan_, Welsh _dwrdd_, humming or murmur, Lhuyd
derives the name DOURDWY, of some brawling streams in Wales; but quoting
the derivations of some other writers, he adds, with more humility than
authors generally possess--"Eligat Lector quod maxime placet." To the
same origin may probably also be referred the DOURDON in France, Dep.
Seine-Inf.
FOOTNOTES:
[62] Bohn's Translation.
CHAPTER IX.
JUNCTION OR SEPARATION OF STREAMS.
There are several river-names which contain the idea, either of the
junction of two streams, or of the separation of a river into two
branches. The Vistula, Visula, or Wysla, (for in these various forms it
appears in ancient records), is referred by Müller,[63] rightly as I
think, to Old Norse _quisl_, Germ. _zwiesel_, branch, as of a river. A
simpler form of _quisl_ is contained in Old Norse _quistr_, ramus, and
the root is to be found in Sansc. _dwis_, to separate, Gael. and Ir.
_dis_, two. The Old Norse name of the Tanais or Don, according to Grimm
(_Deutsch. Gramm. 3, 385_), was Vana-quisl. The word _whistle_, found as
the ending of some of our local names, as Haltwhistle in Northumberland,
and Osbaldwhistle in Lancashire, I take to be = the Old Norse _quisl_:
the sense might be that of the branching off of two roads or two
streams. In an account of the hydrography of Lanarkshire, for which I am
indebted to the kindness of a Friend, there is a burn called
Galawhistle, which compares with the above Old Norse Vana-quisl. In
connection with the Vistula Jornandes introduces a river Viscla, which
has been generally considered to be merely another form of the same
word--Reichard[64] being, as I believe, the only writer who considers it
to be a different river. It seems to me a curious thing that it has
never occurred to any one to identify it with the Wisloka, which joins
the Vistula near Baranov. The modern name must contain the correct form,
for Wisloka = an Old High Germ. Wisilacha, from _acha_ or _aha_, river,
and is the same as the Wisilaffa or Wislauf, from _afa_ or _apa_, river.
The following names I take to be all variations of the same word.
1. _France._ The OUST. Dep. Côtes-du-Nord.
_Germany._ The TWISTE. Joins the Diemel.
The QUEISS. Pruss. Silesia.
_Russia._ The UIST. Joins the Tobol.
The USTE. Joins the Dwina.
2. _With the ending en._
_Germany._ QUISTINA, 11th cent., now the KÖSTEN.
3. _With the ending er._
_France._ The VISTRE. Dep. Gard.
_Belgium._ The VESDRE. Joins the Ourt.
_Germany._ The VEISTR(ITZ). Pruss. Silesia.
4. _With the ending rn._
_Germany._ QUISTIRNA, 8th cent., now the TWISTE, joins the Oste.
5. _With the ending el = O. N. quisl._
_Germany, &c._ VISTULA, 1st cent., Germ. WEICHSEL.
WISL(OKA), joins the Vistula. (_See above._)
The WISL(OK). Joins the San.
WISIL(AFFA), 11th cent., now the WISL(AUF).
_France._ The VESLE. Joins the Aisne.
The following seem also to contain the Germ. _zwei_, Eng. _two_, and to
have something of a similar meaning to the foregoing.
1. _Germany._ The ZWITT(AWA) or ZWITT(AU) in Moravia.
2. _With the ending el._
_Germany._ The ZWETTEL in Austria.
I include also here the SCHELDT or SCHELDE, (the SCALDIS of Cæsar),
which I think is to be explained by the Old Norse _skildr_, Dan.
_skilt_, separated, in allusion to the two mouths by which it enters the
North Sea. And to the same origin may be also placed the SCHILT(ACH) of
Baden, which falls into the Kinzig.
From the Gael. _caraid_, duplex, may probably be the two CARTS in the
County of Renfrew, the united stream of which enters the Firth of Clyde
near Glasgow.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] Die marken des Vaterlandes.
[64] Germanien unter den Römern.
CHAPTER X.
BOUNDARY OR PROTECTION.
The idea of a river as a protection or as a boundary seems to indicate a
more settled state of society, and therefore not to belong to the
earliest order of nomenclature. And consequently, though this chapter is
not quite so bad as the well-known one "Concerning Owls," in Horrebow's
Natural History of Iceland, the sum and substance of which is that
"There are no owls of any kind in the whole Island"--it will be seen
that the number of names is very small in which such a meaning is to be
traced.
The word _gard_, which in the Celtic, Teutonic, Slavonic, and other
tongues has the meaning of protection or defence, must, I think, have
something of the same meaning in river-names. Or it may perhaps rather
be that of boundary, for the two senses run very much into each other.
1. _France._ The GARD. Joins the Rhone.
_Germany._ GARD(AHA), 8th cent. The GART(ACH).
The KART(HAUE) in Prussia.
2. _With the ending en._
_Scotland._ The GAIRDEN. Joins the Dee.
_France._ The GARDON. Joins the Rhone.
_Greece._ JARDANUS ant. in Crete--here?
In the Gael. _sgia_, Welsh _ysgw_, guard, protection, and in the Welsh
_ysgi_, separation or division, we have two senses, of which the latter
may be more suitable for the following. The Editor of Smith's Ancient
Geography suggests that the Scius of Herodotus may be the present Isker
in Bulgaria: in an etymological point of view this seems probable, for
as Scius = Welsh _ysgi_, so Isker = Welsh _ysgar_ of the same meaning.
_Netherlands._ The SCHIE by Schiedam.
_Danub. Prov._ SCIUS ant., now the ISKER?
From the Gael. _scar_, _sgar_, Welsh _ysgar_, Ang.-Sax. _scêran_, to
divide, in the sense of boundary, may be the following. The small river
Scarr in Dumfriesshire forms for six miles a boundary between different
parishes.[65]
1. _England._ The SHERE. Kent.
_Scotland._ The SCARR. Dumfriesshire.
The SHIRA. Argyle.
_Germany._ SCERE, 11th cent. The SCHEER.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The SKERNE. Durham.
_Germany._ SCHYRNE, 11th cent., not identified.
Any names in which the sense of _land_, terra, occurs, may, I think, be
explained most reasonably in the sense of boundary or territorial
division. To this Grimm places the FULDA of Germany, FULD(AHA), 8th
cent., referring it to Old High Germ. _fulta_, Ang.-Sax. _folde_, earth,
ground.
Perhaps also to a similar origin may be referred the MOLD(AU) in
Bohemia, and the MOLD(AVA) of Moldavia. But the Gael. and Ir. _malda_,
_malta_, gentle, slow, Anglo-Sax. _milde_, Eng. _mild_, may be perhaps
more suitable: the MULDE, which joins the Elbe, and which in the 8th
cent. appears as MILDA, seems more probably from this origin.
The BORD(AU), formerly BORDINE, which forms for some distance the
boundary between East and West Friesland, may, as suggested by
Förstemann, be derived from Old Fries. and Anglo-Saxon _bord_, border.
Another river of the same name (p. 33) may perhaps be otherwise derived.
I am inclined to bring in here the GRANTA, and to suggest that it may
have been a Sax. or Angle name of the Cam, or of a certain part of the
Cam. This river seems to have formed one of the boundaries of the
country of the Gyrvii;[66] its name appears in Henry of Huntingdon as
Grenta; and the Old Norse _grend_, Mod. Germ. _grenze_, boundary, seems
a probable etymon.
FOOTNOTES:
[65] Statistical account of Scotland.
[66] See an article by the Rev. W. Stubbs on "The Foundation and early
Fasti of Peterborough," in the Archæological Journal for Sept., 1861.
CHAPTER XI.
VARIOUS DERIVATIONS.
In this chapter I include some names which do not come under any of the
foregoing heads, or which have been omitted in their places.
The following have generally been referred to Gael. _caol_, straight,
narrow.
1. _England._ The COLE. Warwickshire.
The COLY. Devon.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The COLNE. Three rivers.
But even if this derivation is to be received, we must seek another
meaning for the KOLA in Russian Lapland, and the KOLI(MA) in
Siberia--the latter in particular being a large river, with a wide
estuary.
The Gael. and Ir. _beag_, little, forms the ending of some Irish
river-names, as the AWBEG, the OWENBEG, and the AROBEG.[67] The meaning
in all these cases is "little river"--_owen_ being the same as _avon_,
_aw_ the simple form _av_ of the same word, and _aro_ an appellative as
at p. 38, now lost in the Celtic.
From the Gael. _suail_, small, have also been derived the Swale and
other following rivers. Chalmers rightly objects to this as inconsistent
with the character of the rivers, though the derivation which he
proposes to substitute, from _ys-wall_, a sheltered place, affords, it
must be admitted, no very happy alternative. I think the word contained
must be related to Old High German _swal_, Old Norse _svelgr_, gurges,
Eng. _swell_, though it is wanting in the Celtic.
1. _England._ The SWALE. Two rivers, Kent and Yorkshire.
The SWILY. Gloucestershire.
_Ireland._ The SWELLY. Donegal.
The SWILLY. Ulster.
_Germany._ SUALA ant. The SCHWALE.
_France._ SULGAS ant., now the Sorgue.
_Russia._ The SULA--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Ireland._ The SULLANE.
The following must be referred to Old High Germ. _sualm_, gurges, an
extension of the previous word _sual_.
_Germany._ SUALMAN(AHA), 8th century. The SCHWALM.
SULMANA, 8th cent. The SULM.
_Belgium._ The SALM. Prov. Liège.
_France._ The SOLMAN. Dep. Jura.
The Shannon has by some writers been derived from Ir. _sean_ or _shean_,
old. But inasmuch as there is no river that is otherwise than old, the
term could only be used in a poetic sense, like "that ancient river, the
river Kishon." A more suitable etymon, however, seems to me to be found
in Ir. and Obs. Gael. _siona_, delay; this corresponds with the Gaelic
form of the name, Sionan, given by Armstrong.
_Scotland._ The SHIN. Sutherland.
_Ireland._ SENUS (Ptolemy). The SHANNON.
_Germany._ SINNA, 8th cent. The SINN.
_Belgium._ The SENNE. Joins the Dyle.
_Italy._ SENA ant., now the Nevola.
_Aust. Pol._ The SAN, two rivers--here?
_India._ The SEENA--here?
From the Gael. _cobhair_, Ir. _cubhair_, foam, froth, appear to be the
following.
_England._ The COBER. Cornwall.
The COVER. Yorkshire.
_Russia._ The CHOPER.
_Asia._ CHABORAS ant., now the KHABUR--here?
_India._ CHABERIS ant., now the CAVERI--here?
From the Ir. and Obs. Gael. _breath_, pure, clear, I take to be the
following.
_England._ The BRATHA. Lake District.
_Scotland._ The BROTH(OCK). Forfar.
_Germany._ The BRETT(ACH). Joins the Kocher.
The BRAT(AWA) in Bohemia.
BRAHT(AHA),[68] 10th century. The BRACHT--here?
_Asia Minor._ PRACTIUS ant.--here?
And from the Ir. _brag_, running water, I follow Mone in taking the
following.
1. _England._ The BRAY. Devon.
_Ireland._ The BRAY. Wicklow.
_France._ The BRAY. Joins the Loire.
_Germany._ The BREGE, in the Scharwarzwald.
2. _With the ending en._
_England._ The BRAINE. Joins the Blackwater.
_Ireland._ BREAGNA, an old name for the Boyne.
A root for river-names, to which might be put the following, is found by
Förstemann in Old High Germ. _rôr_, Mod. Germ. _rohr_, arundo, Eng.
_rush_.
_Germany._ ROR(AHA), 11th century, now the ROHRBACH.
RURA, 8th cent. The RUHR.
_Holland._ The ROER. Joins the Maas.
The word _sil_ in river-names would seem to have the meaning of still or
sluggish water. The Gael. has _sil_, to drop, rain, drip; and the Arm.
has _sila_, to filter. (The Old Fries. _sil_, canal, seems hardly a
related word; it appears more probably to be connected with Old Norse
_sîla_, to cut, to furrow.) According to Pliny, the Scythian name of the
Tanais or Don was Silis; and several other Scythian rivers had the same
name, (_Grimm, Gesch. d. Deutsch. Sprach._) In this point of view the
above derivation might seem too restricted, and we might think of _sil_,
as of _sal_, (p. 75), as formed by the prefix _s_ from the root _al_ or
_il_, to go, (p. 71), in the simple meaning of water. According to
Strabo and Pliny the Silaris of Italy had the property of petrifying
any plant thrown into it; but as, according to Cluvier, the modern
inhabitants of its banks know nothing of any such property, it would
rather seem as if the story had been made to fit the supposed connection
of the name with _silex_, flint.
1. _Switzerland._ SIL(AHA), 11th cent. The SIHL.
_Italy._ SILIS ant., now the SILE.
_Scotland._ The SHIEL in Argyleshire--here?
_Germany._ The SCHYL (ant. Tiarantus)--here?
2. _With the ending en._
_Sweden._ SILJAN. Lake.
_Russia._ The SHELON--here?
3. _With the ending er._
_Naples._ SILARIS ant., now the SILARO.
The form _silv_ I take to be an extension of _sil_, similar to others
previously noticed.
1. _Russia._ The SILVA. Gov. Perm.
2. _With the ending er._
_England._ The SILVER. Devon.
The SIMOIS in the Plain of Troy I have suggestively placed at p. 119 to
Gael. _saimh_, slow, tranquil. But, taking the epithet _lubricus_
applied to it by Horace, we might perhaps seek a stronger sense from
the same root, as found in Welsh _seimio_, to grease, _saim_, tallow.
The water of the LIPARIS in Cilicia, according to Polyclitus, as quoted
by Pliny, was of such an unctuous quality that it was used in place of
oil. Probably only for the purpose of anointing the person, to which
extent the story is confirmed by Vitruvius. Hence no doubt its name,
from Sansc. _lip_, to be greasy, Gr. λιπαρος, unctuous.
Grimm (_Gesch. d. Deutsch. Sprach._) suggests a similar origin for the
Ister, p. 117, referring it to Old Norse _istra_, Dan. _ister_, fat,
grease, Gr. στέαρ. He puts it, however, in a metaphorical sense, as
"the fattening, fructifying river." With deference, however, to so high
an authority, this explanation seems to me rather doubtful. For the
ending _ster_, as I have elsewhere observed, is common to many
river-names, and I have taken it to be, like the Arm. _ster_, formed by
a phonetic _t_, from the Sansc. _sri_, to flow.
Also, from the root of the Sansc. _sri_, to flow, I take to be Gael.
_sruam_, and again taking the phonetic _t_, the word _stream_, _strom_,
common to all the Teutonic dialects. In these two forms we find the
ancient names of two rivers--the SYRMUS of Thrace, and the STRYMON or
STRUMON, the present STRUMA, of Macedonia.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] The derivation at p. 120 I must retract, finding _beg_ as a
termination of other Irish river-names.
[68] Wiegand, (Oberhessische ortsnamen), refers this name to Old High
Germ. _braht_, fremitus.
CHAPTER XII.
CONCLUSION.
The names of rivers form a striking commentary on the history of
language, so admirably expounded to the general reader in the recent
work of Professor Max Müller.
When we review the long list of words that must have once had the
meaning of water or river, we can hardly fail to be struck with the
number that have succumbed in what he so aptly terms "the struggle for
life which is carried on among synonymous words as much as among plants
and animals."
We see too how large a portion of this long list of appellatives may
ultimately be traced back to a few primary roots. And how even these few
primary roots may perhaps be resolved into a still smaller number of yet
more simple forms.
I take for instance, as a primitive starting point in river-names, the
Sansc. root _î_, _â_, or _ay_, signifying to move, to flow, to go. We
have appellatives even in this simple form, as the Old Norse _â_,
Anglo-Sax. _aê_, water, river. But whether they directly represent the
root, or whether, like the French _eau_, p. 30, they have only withered
down to it again, after a process of germinating and sprouting, I do not
take upon me to determine.
Then we have the roots, also of the kind called primary, _ab_, _ar_,
_ir_, _ag_, _ikh_, _il_, _it_, all having the same general meaning, to
move, to go, and from which, as elsewhere noticed, are also derived a
number of appellatives for water or river in the various Indo-European
languages. I should be inclined to suggest that the whole of these are
formed upon, and are modifications of the simple root _î_, _â_, or _ay_,
and that the following remarks made by Max Müller respecting secondary
roots, may be extended also to them. "We can frequently observe that one
of the consonants, in the Aryan languages, generally the final, is
liable to modification. The root retains its general meaning, which is
slightly modified and determined by the changes of the final
consonants." He instances the Sansc. _tud_, _tup_, _tubh_, _tuj_, _tur_,
_tuh_, _tus_, all having the same general meaning, to strike.
Again--there are forms such as _ang_, _amb_, _and_, &c., which are
merely a strengthening of the roots _ag_, _ab_, _ad_, or _at_, and which
also are found in a number of appellative forms.
We might pursue the subject still further, and enquire whether the
secondary forms, such as _sar_, _sal_, _car_, _cal_, all having the same
general meaning, to move, to go, may not be formed, by the prefix of a
consonant, on the roots _ar_ and _al_, and so also be ultimately
referred to the simple root _î_ or _â_.
As also the silent and ceaseless flow of water is the most natural and
the most common emblem of the efflux of time; so in the same root is to
be found the origin of many of the words which mean time and eternity.
The Gr. αει, the Goth. _aiv_, the Anglo-Sax. _awa_, Eng. _ever_ and
_aye_, are all from this same root, so widely spread in river-names, and
express the same idea which speaks--
"For men may come, and men may go,
But I go on for ever."
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.
P. 25.
To the root _ab_ or _ap_, water, place the Lith. and Lett. _uppe_,
river, whence the following.
_Germany._ The OPPA in Silesia.
_Russia._ The UPA. Joins the Oka.
The UFA. Joins the Bielaya.
P. 33.
To the root _ud_ place as an appellative the Obs. Gael. _ad_, water. And
add to form No. 1 the following names.
_Russia._ The UDA. Gov. Kharkov.
_France._ The ODDE. Dep. Allier.
P. 35.
The Celt. word _and_ or _ant_, water, is nothing more than a
strengthening of the above Obs. Gael. _ad_.
P. 40.
In referring to the root _ark_, _erk_, I have omitted the Ir. _earc_,
water, the appellative most nearly concerned. The Basque _erreca_,
brook, might be taken to be borrowed from the Celtic, did we not find in
the same language the more primitive words _ur_ and _errio_, p. 38,
which seem to form a link with the Indo-European languages.
P. 49.
To the root _nig_, _ni_, place--
1. _France._ The NÉ. Joins the Charente.
_Norway._ The NIA. Stift Trondjem.
3. _With the ending es._
_Russia._ The NERUSSA. Gov. Orel.
P. 63.
To the root _wig_, _wic_, _wy_, place the two following names. The Welsh
_gwy_, water, is the word most nearly concerned in most of the group.
_England._ The WYCK. Buckinghamshire.
_Russia._ The UI. Gov. Orenburg.
P. 64.
To the root _vip_ place as an appellative the Welsh _gwibio_, to rove,
wander, _gwibiau_, serpentine course. Probably upon the whole the sense
of tortuousness is that which should be recognized. The following name
probably belongs to form No. 1.
_Spain._ The QUIPAR. Joins the Segura.
P. 70.
The Celtic languages have a trace of the word _trag_, to run, in the Old
Ir. _traig_, foot (_Zeuss, Gramm. Celt._)
P. 83.
For
_Greece._ PYDARAS ant. Thrace.
Read
_Thrace._ PYDARAS ant.
P. 84.
To the Ir. _biol_, _buol_, water, place the following names.
_England._ The BEAULIEU, also called the Exe, in Hampshire.
_Scotland._ The BEAULY. Inverness.
_Italy._ PAULO ant., now the Paglione.
P. 85.
I apprehend that in the opinion of Celtic scholars of the present day
the Ancient British deity Cocidis is not considered to have any
connection with the river Coquet.
P. 91.
It seems probable that the word _asp_ in river-names is formed by
metathesis from the word _aps_, p. 27, form 5.
P. 97.
The GRYFFE and the GIRVAN may perhaps be better derived from the Gael.
_grib_, swift.
P. 132.
To the root _pad_ or _pand_, to spread, may probably be placed--
_England._ The PANT. Essex.
P. 135.
From the root _tan_, may be derived the DNIESTER, (=Danaster), from
_ster_, river. Or it might be from the root _dan_, as in Danube, p. 116.
P. 136.
The Dan. _tang_, sea-weed, does not seem to be connected with any word
signifying water: it represents the Old Norse _tag_, twig.
P. 145.
To the root _vind_, white, clear, place--
_England._ The WENTE. Yorkshire.
P. 149.
To the Sansc. _taras_, Welsh _têr_, pure, clear, place--
_Thrace._ TEARUS ant.
INDEX.
(_Ancient Names in Italics._)
Aa, 28
Aach, 28
Aar, 39
_Abana_, 26
_Acaris_, 81
Achaza, 31
Adda, 34
Adenau, 34
Adour, 34
Adur, 34
_Aenus_, 27
Agger, 81
Aghor, 81
Agri, 81
Ahr, 39
Ahse, 31
Ain, 135
Aisne, 31
Aiss, 81
Aiterach, 35
Alass, 75
_Alaunus_, 71
Alb, 73
Albegna, 74
Alben, 74
_Albla_, 74
_Albula_, 74
_Alces_, 104
Aldan, 72
Alde, 72
Alf, 73
Alhama, 130
Alise, 75
_Alisna_ 75
Allan, 71
Alle, 71
Aller, 71
_Allia_, 71
Allier, 74
Allow, 71
Alm, 130
Alma, 130
Alme, 130
Almelo, 130
Almo, 130
Alne, 71
_Alpheus_, 74
_Alpis_, 73
Alt, 72
Alta, 72
Alten, 72
Altmühl, 104
Alum Bay, 130
Alz, 75
Amasse, 29
_Ambastus_, 29
Amber, 29
Amble, 29
Amblève, 29
Amele, 29
Ammer, 29
_Amnias_, 26
Amon, 26
Andelau, 36
Andelle, 36
Angel, 81
Angera, 81
Angerap, 81
_Angrus_, 81
_Anitabha_, 35--Note.
Anker, 81
Annas, 27
Ant, 35
Anton, 36
Anza, 27
Appelbach, 26
_Apsarus_, 27--Note.
_Apsus_, 27
_Arabis_, 120
Aragon, 41, 176
Arak, 41, 176
_Arar_, 117
Aras, 78
_Araxes_, 78
Arc, 41, 176
Arga, 41, 176
Argen, 41, 176
_Arius_, 56
_Ariminus_, 122
Arke, 41, 176
Arl, 40
Arly, 40
Arme, 122
Armine, 122
Arno, 40
Arobeg, 164
_Arosis_, 78
Arques, 41
_Arrabo_, 120
Arrow, 39
_Arsia_, 78
Arun, 39
Arva, 109
Arve, 109
_Ascania_, 31
Ash, 31
_Asopus_, 92, 178
Aspe, 92, 178
Astura, 58
Au, 28
Aube, 73
Aulne, 71
Aune, 27
Aupe, 73
Aurach, 39
Auray, 39
Auve, 74
Aven, 26
Avia, 25
Aviz, 27
Avoca, 153
Avon, 26
Avre, 26
Awbeg, 164
Awe, 28
Axe, 30
_Axius_, 31
_Axona_, 31
_Axus_, 31
Bahr, 65
Bandon, 132
Bane, 143
Banitz, 148
Bann, 148
Bannock, 148
Bar, 65
Barrow, 65
Baunach, 84
Beaulieu, 178
Beauly, 178
Beela, 84
Behr, 65
Behrun, 65
Beina, 143
Beraun, 65
Bere, 65
Berre, 65
Beuvron, 84
Bever, 84
Biala, 150
Bialy, 150
Biberbach, 84
Bibra, 84
Bielaya, 150
Bièvre, 83
Bila, 150
_Billæus_, 85
Binoa, 82
Birse, 101
Blythe, 152
Bode, 132
_Boderia_, 132
Bogen, 138
Bogie, 138
Bolbec, 85
_Bollaha_, 85
Bord, 133
Bordau, 163
Bowe, 138
Boyle, 85
Boyne, 84
Bracht, 167
Braine, 167
Bramaue, 154
Bratawa, 167
Bratha, 167
Bray, 167
_Breagna_, 167
Brege, 167
Bresle, 101
Brettach, 167
Brosna, 101
Brothock, 167
Bucket, 138
Bug, 138
Buhler, 85
Buller, 85
Bullot, 85
Burzen, 101
_Cædrius_, 108
Cailas, 110
Cain, 144
_Calbis_, 113
_Caldhowa_, 112
Calder, 112
Caldew, 112
Callan, 110
_Callas_, 110
_Callipus_, 113
Calore, 110
_Calpas_, 113
Cam, 138
Candy Burn, 144
Cane, 144
Cann, 144
Cantiano, 145
_Caresus_, 114
Carpino, 97
_Carpis_, 97
Carron, 139
Cart, 159
Caveri, 167
_Cayster_, 68
_Celadon_, 112
_Celydnus_, 112
_Cerbalus_, 98
_Cersus_, 114
_Cestrus_, 68
_Chalus_, 110
_Chalusus_, 110
Cham, 138
Char, 139
Charente, 139
_Chares_, 139
Chelt, 112
Chelva, 113
Cher, 139
Chiana, 147
Chiers, 114
_Choaspes_, 68, 178
Choper, 167
Chor, 139
Churne, 139
_Cladeus_, 80
_Clanius_, 147
Clare, 149
Cleddeu, 79
_Clitora_, 80
_Clitumnus_, 80
Cloyd, 79
_Cludros_, 80
Clun, 147
Clwyd, 79
Clyde, 79
Cober, 167
_Cocbrôc_, 86
Cocker, 86
Cockley-beck, 87
_Cocytus_, 87
Coker, 86
_Colapis_, 113
Cole, 164
Colne, 164
Coly, 164
Conan, 145
Cond, 144
Conder, 145
Conn, 144
Conner, 145
Conway, 145
Coquet, 87
_Coralis_, 139
Cover, 167
_Cremera_, 140
_Cremisus_, 140
Crummock, 140
Cuckmare, 87
_Curalius_, 139
_Cydnus_, 108
_Cyrus_, 139
Dahme, 135
Dalcke, 106
Dane, 135
Danube, 116
_Daradax_, 105
_Daradus_, 105
Darme, 70
Daubrawa, 37
Deane, 135
Déaume, 135
Dee, 134
Deel, 105
Delvenau, 106
Demer, 135
Derwent, 141
Desna, 107
Deva, 135
Dill, 105
Dillar Burn, 106
Dista, 107
Dive, 135
Dniester, 179
Dobur, 37
Docker, 150
Dodder, 90
Dokka, 150
Dommel, 90
Don, 135
Donge, 136
Dora, 37
Dordogne, 38
Doubs, 36
Douglas, 150
Dourdon, 155
Dourdwy, 155
Douro, 37
Doux, 36
Dove, 36
Dovy, 36
Dow, 36
Dowles, 150
Drac, 70
Drage, 70
Drammen, 70
Dran, 69
Drave, 69
Drewenz, 141
Drome, 70
Drone, 69
Dronne, 69
Dubissa, 37
Duddon, 90
Dude, 90
Durance, 141
Durme, 70
Durra, 37
Dussel, 107
Duyte, 90
Dyle, 106
Earne, 40
Ebrach, 26
Ebro, 26
Ecolle, 69
Eden, 35
Eder, 34
Edrenos, 34
Eem, 28
Eger, 81
Ehen, 27
Eichel, 28
Eider, 35
Eisach, 32
Eitrach, 35
Elbe, 73
Eld, 72
Elda, 72
Ellé, 71
Ellen, 71
Ellero, 71
Ellison, 75
Elvan, 74
Elz, 75
Emba, 29
Emele, 29
Emme, 28
Emmen, 29
Emmer, 29
Ems, 29
Ens, 27
Era, 39
Erens, 138
Erft, 40
Ergers, 41
Erl, 40
Erla, 40
Erms, 122
Erpe, 109
Erve, 109
Eschaz, 31
Esk, 31
Eskle, 31
Esla, 33
Esque, 31
Ettrick, 35
Eure, 34
Evan, 26
_Evenus_, 26
Eye, 28
Eypel, 27
Exe, 31
Fal, 130
Feale, 130
Fillan, 130
Fils, 130
Findhorn, 146
Finn, 146
Finnan, 146
_Fladaha_, 149
Fladnitz, 149
Fleet, 66
Flieden, 66
Flietnitz, 66
Flisk, 67
Foilagh, 130
Formio, 154
Forth, 115
Fowey, 154
Foyers, 154
Frame, 154
Fraw, 115
Frome, 154
Froon, 115
Fulda, 162
_Gada_, 108
Gaddada, 109
Gade, 108
Gader, 108
Gadmen, 109
Gail, 110
Gairden, 161
Gala, 110
_Galthera_, 112
Gande, 108
Ganges, 68
_Gangitus_, 68
Gard, 161
Gardon, 161
Garf water, 97
Garonne, 13, 114
_Garrhuenus_, 113
Garry, 113
Gartach, 161
Garza, 114
Gata, 108
Gauir, 155
Geisa, 108
_Gela_, 110
Gelt, 112
Geltnach, 112
_Geranius_, 114
_Geron_, 114
Gers, 114
Gidea, 108
Giesel, 109
Giessbach, 108
Gingy, 68
Giron, 114
Girvan, 97, 178
Glan, 147
Glass, 147
Glatt, 147
Glen, 147
Glon, 147
Glyde, 80
Gose, 108
Gotha, 108
Gouw, 68
Grabow, 97
Granta, 163
Gravino, 97
Greta, 152
Grumbach, 140
Gryffe, 97, 178
Gwynedd, 145
_Gyndes_, 108
Haase, 100--Note.
_Haliacmon_, 104
_Halycus_, 104
_Halys_, 75
Hamel, 29
Hamps, 29
Harpa, 109
_Harpasus_, 109
_Hebrus_, 26
_Helisson_, 75
Helme, 130
Helpe, 74
Herk, 41, 176
Hesper, 92, 178
Hespin, 91
_Hesudros_, 33
_Hisscar_, 32
Hörsel, 78
Hull, 89
Humber, 29
Hunte, 100
_Hypanis_, 26
_Hypius_, 26
_Hypsas_, 27
_Iberus_, 26
Idle, 35
Igla, 69
Iglawa, 69
Ihna, 27
Ik, 69
Ilach, 71
Ilavla, 74
Ile, 71
Ilen, 71
Ilek, 104
_Ilissus_, 75
Ill, 71
Ille, 71
Iller, 71
Illim, 130
Ilm, 130
Ilmen, 130
Ilmenau, 130
Ilse, 75
Ilz, 75
Inda, 23
Inde, 23
Indus, 23
Indre, 23
Ingon, 81
Ingul, 81
Inn, 27
Inney, 27
Ionne, 69
Ipf, 26
Ipoly, 27
Ips, 27
_Irat_, 138
Irati, 138
Irghiz, 41
Irk, 41
Irkut, 41
Irt, 138
Irthing, 138
Irvine, 109
Isac, 31
Isar, 33
Ischl, 31
Ise, 32
Isen, 32
Isère, 32
Isis, 33
Isla, 33
Isker, 161
_Ismenus_, 33
Isolé, 33
Isper, 92
Isset, 33
_Issus_, 32
_Ister_, 33, 117, 170
Itchen, 69
Iton, 35
Itz, 35
Ive, 25
Ivel, 26
_Jactus_, 100
Jaghatu, 100
Jahde, 100
Jahnbach, 68
_Jardanus_, 161
Jaxt, 100
Jesmen, 89
Jessava, 89
Jetza, 89
_Jezawa_, 89
Jisdra, 89
Joss, 89
Jug, 100
Kalitva, 112
Kam, 139
Kama, 139
Kamp, 138
Kana, 144
Kander, 145
Karthaue, 161
Kels, 110
Kelvin, 113
Kemi, 139
Kenne, 144
Kent, 144
Kerr, 139
Kersch, 114
Khabur, 167
Khankova, 68
Klara, 149
Klodnitz, 80
Klön, 147
Kocher, 86
Kohary, 86
Kohlbach, 113
Kokel, 86
Kola, 164
Kolima, 164
Korol, 139
Koros, 114
Kösten, 158
Krems, 140
Kroma, 140
Krumbach, 140
Kuchelbach, 87
Kulpa, 113
Kur, 139
Lagan, 45
Lahn, 45
_Laimaha_, 128
Laine, 45
Laith, 46
Lama, 128
Lambro, 129
Lamme, 128
Lammer, 129
Lamone, 129
Lamov, 128
_Lamus_, 129
Laucha, 45
Lauder, 148
Lauter, 148
Lave, 45
Lavino, 45
Leach, 44
Leam, 128
Lech, 44
Leck, 44
Lee, 44
Leen, 44
Legre, 44
Leiser, 147
Leith, 46
Leitha, 46
Leithan, 47
Leman, 129
Leman (Lake), 129
Lempe, 128
Lesse, 146
_Lethæus_, 47
Leven, 45
Lez, 146
Lid, 46
Lida, 46
Lidden, 47
Liddle, 47
Lieser, 147
Liffar, 46
Liffey, 46
Ligne, 44
Lima, 128
Limen, 129
Limmat, 129
_Limyrus_, 129
_Liparis_, 170
Lipka, 46
Lippe, 46
Liver, 46
Liza, 146
Lizena, 146
Ljusne, 147
Lloughor, 45
Loing, 45
Loire, 44
Loiret, 14
Lomond (Loch), 129
Looe, 45
Loony, 45
Loose, 146
Lossie, 146
Lot, 72
Loue, 45
Louga, 45
Lougan, 45
Louven, 45
Lowna, 45
Lowther, 148
Luder, 148
Lug, 45
Lugan, 45
Lugano (Lake), 45
Lugar, 45
Luhe, 44
Lune, 45
Lutter, 148
Lye, 44
Lyme, 128
Lyon, 44
Lys, 44
Maas, 142
Macestus, 61
Madder, 88
Madel, 88
Maese, 142
Magra, 60
Mahanuddy, 60
Maia, 60
Maig, 60
Main, 60
Maina, 60
March, 61
Mare, 62
Marecchia, 62
Mark, 61
Marne, 88
Marosch, 62
_Marsyas_, 62
Masie, 142
Mask (Lake), 62
_Matrinus_, 88
_Matrona_, 88
Maw, 60
Mawn, 60
May, 60
Mayenne, 127
Meal, 61
Mede, 88
_Medemelacha_, 126
Medinka, 126
_Medoacus_, 127
_Medofulli_, 126
Medvieditza, 127
Medway, 126
Medwin, 127
Megna, 60
Mehaigne, 60
Mehe, 88
Meissau, 142
_Melsus_, 151
Meon, 60
Mergui, 62
Mersey, 62
Metauro, 88
_Metema_, 127
Meuse, 142
Mhye, 60
Midou, 126
Miele, 61
Mies, 142
Milsibach, 151
Moder, 88
Moldau, 162
Moldava, 162
Mora, 61
Morava, 61
Morge, 61
Mörn, 62
Moselle, 142
Moskva, 62
Mourne, 62
Moy, 60
Moyne, 60
Muhr, 61
Mulde, 162
Mülmisch, 151
Muotta, 102
Murg, 61
Murr, 61
Murz, 62
Musone, 142
Muthvey, 102
Naab, 50
Naaf, 50
_Nabalis_, 51
Nabon, 50
Nahe, 50
Nairn, 49
_Namadus_, 52
_Naparis_, 50
Nar, 49
Narenta, 49
Narew, 49
Naron, 49
Narova, 49
Narra, 49
Natisone, 88
Nave, 50
Naver, 50
Navia, 50
Ne, 177
Neagh (Lake), 49
Neath, 54
_Neda_, 54
Neers, 49
Neisse, 51
Nenagh, 49
Nene, 49
Nenny, 49
Nent, 49
Nera, 49
Nerja, 49
Nerussa, 177
Ness, 51
Neste, 51
_Nestus_, 51
Nethan, 54
Nethe, 54
Neutra, 88
Neva, 50
Never, 50
Nevis, 51
Nia, 177
_Nia_, 49
Nidd, 54
Nidder, 54
Nied, 54
Niemen, 50
Nievre, 50
Nisi, 51
Nissava, 51
Nith, 54
Nive, 50
Nivelle, 50
Noain, 88
Nodder, 88
_Noraha_, 49
Nore, 49
Now, 49
_Oarus_, 39
Ock, 28
Ocker, 153
Odde, 176
Odder, 34
Oder, 34
Odon, 34
_Oenus_, 27
Oertze, 78
Ohm, 26
Ohre, 39
Ohrn, 40
Oich, 28
Oikell, 28
Oise, 32
Oka, 28
Oke, 28
Olle, 72
_Olmeius_, 130
_Oltis_, 72
Ombrone, 29
Oppa, 176
Orb, 109
Ore, 39
Orge, 41
Orla, 40
Orlyava, 40
Orlyk, 40
Orre, 40
Orrin, 40
_Orsinus_, 78
Orvanne, 109
_Œscus_, 31
Oskol, 31
Otter, 34
Ource, 78
Ourcq, 41
Ourt, 138
Ousche, 32
Oust, 158
Owenbeg, 164
Ovoca, 153
Oxus, 31
Paar, 65
Pader, 132
_Padus_, 132
Palme, 67
Pant, 178
_Pantanus_, 132
Parde, 133
Parret, 83
_Parthenius_, 133
_Pathissus_, 132
_Paulo_, 178
Pebrach, 84
Pedder, 83
Peen, 81
Peffer, 83
Pelym, 67
_Peneus_, 82
Penjina, 82
Penk, 82--Note.
Pennar, 82
Penza, 82
_Permessus_, 154
Pernau, 65
Persante, 101
Petteril, 83
Pever, 83
Pfreimt, 154
Piana, 82
Piave, 65
Piddle, 82
Pina, 82
Pinau, 82
Pindar, 83
_Pindus_, 82
Pinega, 82
Pinka, 82
Pitrenick, 83
Plaine, 65
Plau, 65
Plan-see (Lake), 66
Pleiske, 67
Pleisse, 66
_Pleistus_, 66
Pliusa, 66
Ploen (Lake), 66
Plone, 66
Plonna, 66
Plym, 67
Po, 131
Polota, 85
_Porata_, 115
Portva, 115
_Practius_, 167
Pravadi, 115
Pregel, 115
Primma, 154
Prims, 154
Pripet, 115
Pronia, 115
Prosna, 101
Prüm, 154
Pruth, 115
Purally, 115
_Pydaras_, 83
_Pyramus_, 154
Queiss, 158
Quenny, 145
Quipar, 177
Raab, 120
_Rasa_, 96
Rasay, 96
Ravee, 102
Raven, 102
Rea, 43
Rednitz, 95
Reen, 43
Rega, 43
Regen, 43
Regge, 43
Reno, 43
Reuss, 96
Rezat, 96
_Rha_, 43
_Rhesus_, 96
Rhine, 43
Rhion, 43
_Rhodanus_, 95
_Rhodius_, 95
Rhone, 95
Riaza, 96
Riga, 43
Riss, 96
Robe, 102
Rodach, 95
Rodau, 95
Rodden, 95
Roer, 168
Rohrbach, 168
Ross, 96
Rosslau, 96
Rötel, 96
Roth, 95
Rotha, 95
Rothaine, 95
Rother, 96
Rott, 95
Rottach, 95
Roubion, 102
Ruhr, 168
Rye, 43
Saale, 76
Saar, 55
_Sabis_, 59
Sabor, 59
_Sabrina_, 59
Saima (Lake), 119
Sal, 77
Salm, 166
_Salo_, 77
Salza, 151
Samara, 119
Sambre, 59, 119
San, 166
Saone, 119
Saraswati, 56
Saratovka, 56
_Sarayu_, 55
Sare, 55
Sark, 55
Sarnius, 56
Sarno, 56
Sarsonne, 56
Sarthe, 56
Sau, 59
_Sauconna_, 119
Save, 59
Savena, 59
Savezo, 59
Savio, 59
Savranka, 59
Sazawa, 98
_Scaldis_, 159
Scarr, 162
Scheer, 162
Scheldt, 159
Schie, 161
Schiltach, 159
Schmida, 53
Schnei, 52
Schondra, 99
Schozach, 99
Schunter, 99
Schupf, 101
Schussen, 99
Schutter, 99
Schwabach, 101
Schwale, 165
Schwalm, 166
Schwarza, 150
Schyrne, 162
_Scius_, 161
_Scopas_, 101
Seaton, 141
Seena, 166
Segre, 119
Segura, 119
Seille, 76
Seine, 119
Selle, 76
Selse, 151
Selune, 77
Sem, 119
Semoy, 119
Sempt, 119
Sena, 166
Senne, 166
_Senus_, 166
Seran, 56
Serchio, 55
Sered, 56
Sereth, 56
Serio, 55
Serre, 55
Serus, 55
_Sessites_, 98
Sestra, 99
Seugne, 119
Seva, 59
Sevan, 59
Severn, 59
_Severus_, 59
Sevre, 59
Sevron, 59
Shannon, 166
Sheaf, 101
Shere, 162
Shiel, 169
Shin, 166
Shira, 162
_Sicoris_, 119
Sid, 141
Sieg, 119
Sieve, 59
Sihl, 169
Silaro, 169
Sile, 169
Simmen, 119
Simmer, 119
_Simois_, 119, 169
Sinde, 23
Sitter, 141
Skerne, 162
Skippon, 101
Slaan, 77
Slaney, 77
Sneidbach, 52
Snyte, 52
Soar, 55
_Soastus_, 98
Soeste, 98
Soja, 119
Solman, 166
Somme, 119
Sora, 55
Sorg, 55
Sosna, 98
Sosterbach, 99
Sosva, 98
Souza, 98
Sow, 59
Söve, 59
Spean, 103
Spear, 103
Speier, 103
Spey, 103
Sprazah, 103
Spree, 103
Sprenzel, 104
Spressa, 104
Sprint, 103
Sprotta, 103
Stör, 58
_Storas_, 58
Stort, 58
Stour, 58
Streu, 58
Stroud, 58
Strumon, 171
Stry, 58
Stura, 58
Styr, 58
Suchona, 119
Suck, 59
_Sucro_, 59
_Suevus_, 101
Suippe, 101
Suire, 59
Sula, 165
_Sulgas_, 165
Sullane, 165
Sulm, 166
Sur, 55
Sura, 55
Sure, 55
Suren, 56
Suss, 98
Sutledge, 26, 98
Sutoodra, 98
Suusaa, 98
Suzon, 98
Svart, 150
Svir, 55
Swale, 165
Swelly, 165
Swilly, 165
Swords, 56
_Syrmus_, 171
Szala, 151
Ta (Loch), 135
_Tabuda_, 135
Tacon, 107
Tamar, 135
_Tamaris_, 135
Tambre, 135
Tame, 135
Tamuda, 136
Tamyras, 136
Tana, 135
Tanagro, 136
_Tanais_, 135
Tanaro, 135
Tanger, 136
_Tanus_, 135
Taptee, 135
Tara, 149
Tardoire, 105
Tarf, 69
Tarisa, 149
Tarn, 149
Taro, 149
Tartaro, 105
_Tartessus_, 105
Tarth, 105
Tauber, 37
Tavda, 135
Tave, 135
Tavus, 135
Tavy, 134
Taw, 134, 135
Tay, 135
Teane, 135
Tearne, 149
_Tearus_, 179
Tees, 106
Teesta, 107
Teign, 135
Tema, 135
Teme, 136
Temes, 136
Tengs, 136
Termon, 155
Tescha, 107
Tessin, 107
Test, 107
Teviot, 135
Thames, 136
Thaya, 136
Theiss, 107
Thiele, 106
Thur, 37
_Tiasa_, 107
Ticino, 107
Till, 105
Tilse, 106
Tim, 135
Timao, 135
_Timavus_, 135
Tivy, 135
Tollen, 106
Tom, 135
Torre, 37
Tosa, 107
Töss, 107
Touse, 107
Touvre, 37
Towy, 36
Trachino, 71
_Tragus_, 70
Traun, 69
Trave, 69
Trebbia, 69
Treja, 70
Trent, 141
Trento, 141
Trome, 70, 155
_Truentius_, 141
Truim, 70, 155
Tura, 37
Turija, 37
Turuntus, 141
Twiste, 158
Tzna, 52
Uda, 176
Ufa, 176
Ui, 177
Uist, 158
Ulla, 89
Ullea, 89
Ulster, 89
_Umbro_, 28
Umea, 28
Unstrut, 58
Upa, 176
Ural, 40
_Urius_, 39
Urjumka, 122
Ursel, 78
Usk, 31
Uste, 158
_Uxella_, 31
Vaga, 63
Vagai, 63
_Vahalis_, 63
Vakh, 63
Varano, 78
Vardar, 79
Varde, 79
Vardre, 79
Varese (Lake), 78
Vartrey, 79
Vayah, 63
Vegiaur, 64
Vegre, 63
Vehne, 146
Veile, 90
Veistritz, 158
Vel, 90
Velez, 91
Velino, 91
Vellaur, 91
Vendée, 146
Vent, 145
Ver, 77
Verdon, 79
Vesdre, 158
Vesle, 158
Vever, 64
Veveyse, 64
Viaur, 63
Vie, 63
Vienne, 63
Vig, 63
Vilia, 90
Viliu, 90
Villa, 90
Vilna, 90
Vils, 91
Vindau, 146
_Vipasa_, 64
Vire, 77
Vistre, 158
Vistula, 158
Vlie, 65
Vliest, 66
Vliet, 66
Vodla, 34
Vosges, 63
Waag, 63
Waal, 63
Wandle, 146
Warnau, 77
Warta, 79
Watawa, 34
Waveney, 63
Waver, 63
Wear, 34
Weaver, 64
Wegierka, 64
Weichsel, 158
Welland, 90
Welse, 91
Wente, 179
Wern, 77
Werre, 77
Wers, 78
Wertach, 78
Wetter, 34
Wey, 63
Wick, 63
Wien, 63
Wigger, 63
Willy, 90
Windau, 146
_Winderius_, 146
Windermere (Lake), 146
Wipper, 64
Wislauf, 158
Wisloka, 158
Woder, 34
Worse, 78
Wölpe, 73
Wupper, 64
Wurdah, 79
Wyck, 177
Wye, 63
Xalon, 77
Xucar, 59
Yssel, 33
Ythan, 35
Zeyer, 59
Zorn, 56
Zna, 52
Zwettel, 158
Zwittau, 158
Zwittawa, 158
R. AND J. STEEL, PRINTERS, 57, ENGLISH ST., CARLISLE.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The River-Names of Europe" ***
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