1.England.TheSoar. Leicester.TheSark, forms the boundary between England and Scotland.France.TheSerre. Joins the Oise.Germany.Saravusant., now theSaar.Soraha, 8th cent., a small stream seemingly now unnamed.Sura, 7th cent. TheSureand theSur.TheSorg. Prussia.Switzerland.TheSareand theSur.Norway.TheSura.Russia.TheSura. Joins the Volga.TheSvir, falls into Lake Ladoga.Lombardy.TheSerio. Joins the Adda.TheSerchioorSarco.Portugal.TheSora. Joins the Tagus.Asia.Serusant., now the Meinam.Asia Minor.Sarusant., now the Sihon.India.Sarayu[21]ant., now the Sardju.Armenia.Arius[22]ant., now the Heri Rud.2.With the ending en.France.TheSeran. Joins the Rhone.TheSerain. Joins the Yonne.Germany.Sorna, 8th cent. TheZorn.Switzerland.TheSuren. Cant. Aargau.Naples.Sarnusant. TheSarno.Persia.Sarniusant., now the Atrek.
The formsaras, water, seems to be found in the following two names.
1.With the ending en.France.TheSarsonne. Dep. Corrèze.2.Compounded with wati = Goth. wato, water.India.TheSaraswati, 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.TheSwordsriver near Dublin.France.TheSarthe. Joins the Mayenne.Galicia.TheSered. Joins the Dniester.Moldavia.TheSereth. Ant. Ararus.Russia.TheSarat(ovka).[23]Gov. Saratov.
It would seem that the foregoing formssri,sru,srot, sometimes take a phonetict, and becomestri,stru,strot. Thus one Celtic dialect, the Armorican, changessurintoster, and another, the Cornish, changessruthintostruth—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 Germanstur, Old Norsestôr, 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 Armoricanster, a river, seems to be the word most nearly concerned.
1.The form stry, stru, stur.England.Sturius(Ptolemy). TheStour. There are six rivers of this name.Germany.Strowa, 8th cent. TheStreu.Holstein.Sturia, 10th cent. TheStör.Italy.Stura, two rivers.Storas(Strabo), now theAstura.Aust. Poland.TheStry. Joins the Dniester.TheStyr. Joins the Pripet.2.The form struth.England.TheStroud. Gloucester.TheStort. Essex.Germany.TheUnstrutFörstemann places here, as far as the endingstrutis concerned.
From the Sanscrit rootsu, liquere, come Sansc.sava, water, Old High Germansou, 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.TheSow. Warwickshire.Ireland.TheSuck. Joins the Shannon.France.TheSave. Joins the Garonne.Belgium.Sabis, 1st cent.B.C., now the Sambre.Germany.Savusant. TheSaveorSau.TheSöve. Joins the Elbe.Russia.TheSeva.Italy.TheSavio. Pont. States.TheSieve. Joins the Arno.2.With the ending en.Italy.TheSavenaorSaona. Piedmont.Armenia.TheSevan. Lake.3.With the ending er.Ireland.Severusant. TheSuire.Germany.Sevira, 9th cent. TheZeyer.France.TheSevre. Two rivers.Spain.Sucroant. TheXucar.Portugal.TheSabor.4.With the ending rn (see note p.34).England.Sabrinaant. TheSevern.France.TheSevron. Dep. Saône-et-Loire.Russ. Pol.TheSavran(ka). Gov. Podolia.5.With the ending es.Lombardy.TheSavezonear Milano.
In the Sanscritmih, to flow, to pour, Old Norsemîga, scaturire, Anglo-Saxonmigan,mihan, to water, Sansc.maighas, rain, Old Norsemîgandi, 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 formsma, andmanormen, forms the ending of several river-names.
1.Scotland.TheMay. Perthshire.Ireland.TheMaigand theMoy.Wales.TheMayand theMaw.France.TheMay.Siberia.TheMaia. Joins the Aldon.India.TheMhye. Bombay.2.With the ending en.England.TheMawn. Notts.TheMeon. Hants. (Meôn eâ,Cod. Dip.)Ireland.TheMainand theMoyne.France.TheMaine. Two rivers.Belgium.TheMehaigne. Joins the Scheldt.Germany.Moenusant. TheMain.Sardinia.TheMaina. Joins the Po.Siberia.TheMain. Joins the Anadyr.India.TheMegna. Prov. Bengal.TheMahanuddy—here?3.With the ending er.Italy.TheMagra. Falls into the Gulf of Genoa.4.With the ending el.England.TheMeal. Shropshire.Denmark.TheMiele. Falls into the German Ocean.5.With the ending st.[24]Asia Minor.TheMacestus. Joins the Rhyndacus.
From the rootmî, to flow, come also Sansc.mîras, Lat.mare, Goth.marei, Ang.-Sax.mêr, Germ.meer, Welshmar,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 Celticmurg, in the more definite sense of a morass, may come in for some of the forms.
1.France.TheMorge. Dep. Isère.Germany.Marus(Tacitus). TheMarch, Slav.Mor(ava).Muora, 8th cent. TheMuhr.Murra, 10th cent. TheMurr.Belgium.Murga, 7th cent. TheMurg.TheMark. Joins the Scheldt.Switzerland.TheMurg. Cant. Thurgau.Sardinia.TheMora. Div. Novara.Servia.Margusant. TheMorava.Italy.TheMarecchia. Pont. States—here?India.TheMergui—here?2.With the ending en.Ireland.TheMourne. Ulster.Germany.Marne, 11th cent., now theMare.Merina, 11th cent. TheMörn.3.With the ending es.England.TheMersey. Lancashire.Germany.Muoriza, 10th cent. TheMurz.Dacia.Marisusant. TheMarosch.Phrygia.Marsyasant.
Another form of Sansc.marj, to wet, to wash, ismasj, whence I take the following.
Ireland.Mask, a lake in Connaught.Russia.TheMosk(va), by Moscow, to which it gives the name.
From the Sanscritvagorvah, to move, comesvahas, 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.TheWey. Dorset.TheWey. Surrey.Hungary.TheWaag. Joins the Danube.Russia.TheVaga. Joins the Dwina.TheVagaiand theVakhin Siberia.India.TheVayah. Madras.2.With the ending en.England.TheWaveney. Norf. and Suffolk.3.With the ending er.England.TheWaver. Cumberland.4.With the ending el.Netherlands.Vahalis, 1st cent.B.C.TheWaal.5.With the ending es = Sansc. vahas?France.Vogesusant. TheVosges.
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.TheWye. Monmouthshire.Scotland.TheWick. Caithness.France.TheVie. Two rivers.Russia.TheVig. Forms lakeVigo.2.With the ending en.France.Vigennaant. TheVienne.Germany.TheWien, which gives the name to Vienna, (Germ. Wien).3.With the ending er.Switzerland.TheWigger. Cant. Lucerne.France.TheVegre. Dep. Sarthe.TheViaur—probably here.Poland.TheWegier(ka).India.TheVegiaur, Madras—here?
Formed on the rootvi, to move, is probably also the Sansc.viporvaip, to move, to agitate, Latinvibrare, perhapsvivere, Old Norsevippa,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.TheWeaver. Cheshire.TheVever. Devonshire.Germany.Wippera, 10th cent. TheWipper(two rivers), and theWupper.2.With the ending es.India.Vipasa, the Sanscrit name of the Beas.Switzerland.Vibsicusant. (properly Vibissus?) TheVeveyseby Vevay.
From the rootvip, to move, taking the prefixs, is formedswip, which I have dealt with in the next chapter.
In the Sansc.par, to move, we find the root of Gael.beathra(pronouncedbeara),Old Celt.ber, water, Pers.baran, rain, &c., to which I place the following.
1.England.TheBere. Dorset.Ireland.Bargus(Ptolemy). TheBarrow.France.TheBar. Dep. Ardennes.TheBerre. Dep. Aude.Germany.TheBahr, theBehr, theBehre, thePaar.2.With the ending en.Bohemia.TheBeraunnear Prague.India.TheBehrun.Russia.ThePernau.Gulf of Riga.
From the Sansc.plu, to flow, Lat.pluoandfluo, come Sansc.plavas, flux, Lat.pluviaandfluvius, Gr.πλυνω, lavo, Ang.-Sax.flôwe,flum, Lat.flumen, river, &c. Hence we get the following.
1.Germany.ThePlau, river and lake.[25]Mecklenburg-Schwerin.Holland.Flevo, 1st cent. The Zuiderzee, the outlet of which, between Vlieland and Schelling, is still calledVlie.Aust. Italy.Plavisant. ThePiave, falls into the Adriatic.2.With the ending en.France.ThePlaine. Joins the Meurthe.Germany.ThePlone. Joins the Haff.ThePlan-see, a lake in the Tyrol.Holstein.Ploen.A lake.Poland.ThePlonna. 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 Norsefliot, stream. And I think that some at least of this group are German.
1.England.TheFleet. Joins the Trent.TheFleet, now called the Fleetditch in London.Scotland.TheFleet. Kirkcudbright.Germany.Bleisa, 10th cent. ThePleisse.Holland.Flieta, 9th cent. TheVliet.Russia.ThePliusa. Gulf of Finland.2.With the ending en.Germany.Fliedina, 8th cent. TheFlieden.TheFlietn(itz). Pruss. Pom.3.With the ending st.Holland.TheVliest.Greece.Pleistusant., 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 theAng.-Sax. and Old High Germ.flum, Lat.flumen, though I think that the names must be rather Celtic.
1.Ireland.TheFlisk. Falls into the Lake of Killarney.Germany.ThePleiske. Joins the Oder.2.England.ThePlym, by Plymouth.Scotland.ThePalme, by Palmton.Siberia.ThePelym. 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 Norseganga. In the sense of "that which goes," the Hindostanee has formedgung, 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 theLiuganga. Another name for the Ganges is the Pada, for whichHindoo ingenuity has sought an origin in the myth of its rising from the foot of Vishnoo. But aspadandgamin 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.TheGanges. SanscritGanga.TheGingy. Pondicherry.Russia.TheKhank(ova). Joins the Don.2.With the ending et.Greece.Gangitusant., in Macedonia.
The Sansc. verbgam, to go, along with its allied forms, is formed on a simpler verbgâ, of the same meaning. To this I put the following.
1.Holland.TheGouw. Joins the Yssel.Persia.ChoesorCho(aspes)[26]ant.2.With the ending en.Germany.Gewin(aha), 9th cent., now theJahn(bach).3.Compounded with ster, river.Asia Minor.TheCaysterandCestrus—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.TheIk. Two rivers.2.With the ending en.England.Icena(Cod. Dip.) TheItchen.France.Icaunaant. TheIonne.3.With the ending el.Moravia.TheIglaorIgl(awa).France.TheEcolle. 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 Welshdwr, water.
1.Scotland.TheTarf, several small rivers—here?Germany.Dravus, 1st cent. TheDrave, Germ.Drau.Italy.TheTrebbia. Joins the Po.2.With the ending en.Germany.Travena, 10th cent., now theTrave.Trewina, 9th cent. TheDran.Drona, 9th cent. TheDrone.Truna, 7th cent. TheTraun.France.TheDronne. Joins the Isle.
In the Sansc.dram, to move, to run, Gr.δρέμω, whencedromedary, &c., is to be found the root of the following. Butdram, as I take it, is an interchanged form with the precedingdrav, asamon=avon, &c.,ante.
1.Scotland.TheTromeand theTruim. Inverness.France.TheDromeand theDarme.Belgium.TheDurme.Germany.TheDarm, by Darmstadt.2.With the ending en.Norway.TheDrammen. 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 verbδρέμωof 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.TheDrac. Joins the Isère.Prussia.TheDrage.Greece.Tragusant.Italy.TheTreja. Joins the Tiber.2.With the ending en.Sicily.TheTrachino. 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.TheIle. Somerset.TheAllow. Northumberland.France.TheIll, theIlle, and theEllé.Germany.Illa, 9th cent. TheIll.Il(aha), 11th cent. TheIl(ach).TheAlle. Prussia.Italy.Alliaant., near Rome.2.With the ending en.England.Alaunus(Ptolemy). Perhaps theAxe.TheAlne, two rivers.TheEllen. Cumberland.Scotland.TheAllan, two rivers.Ireland.TheIlen. Cork.France.TheAulne. Dep. Finistère.3.With the ending er.Germany.Alara, 8th cent. TheAller.Ilara, 10th cent. TheIller.Piedmont.TheEllero.
From the above rootaloril, to move, to go, I take to be the Gael.aldoralt, a stream, (an older form of which, according to Armstrong,isaled); and the Old Norseallda, Finnishaalto, a wave, billow. As an ending this word is found in theNagoldof Germany (ant.Nagalta), and in theHeraultof France, Dep. Herault. Förstemann makes the former wordnagalt, 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 rootnigornî, p.47.
1.England.TheAlde. Suffolk.TheAlt. Lancashire.France.Oltisant., now the Lot.Germany.TheEld. Mecklenburg-Schwerin.Spain.TheElda.Russia.TheAlta. Gov. Poltova.2.With the ending en.Germany.Aldena, 11th cent., now the Olle.Norway.TheAlten.Siberia.TheAldan. Joins the Lena.
Also from the rootaloril, to move, I take to be the Old Norseelfa, Dan.elv, Swed.elf, a river. The riverἌλπιςmentioned in Herodotus is supposed by Mannert to be the Inn by Innsbrück. I think the able Editor ofSmith'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 makegarbhintocarp. But indeed the formcarpis 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. TheElbe. Also theAlbin Baden, and theAlfin Pomerania.Alpis(Herodotus), perhaps the Inn.Alapa, 8th cent., now the Wölpe.TheAupe. Joins the Elbe.France.Albaant., now theAube.TheAuve. Dep. Marne.TheHelpe. Joins the Sambre.Greece.Alpheusant., now the Rufio—here?2.With the ending en.Scotland.TheElvan. Joins the Clyde.Germany.Albana, 8th cent., now theAlben.Tuscany.Albiniaant. TheAlbegna.3.With the ending er.France.Elaverant., now the Allier.4.With the ending el.Germany.Albla, 11th cent., not identified.Italy.Albula, the ancient name of the Tiber.Russia.TheIlavla. Joins the Don.
Förstemann seems to me to be right in his conjecture that the formsalis,els,ils, are also extensions of the rootal,el,il. We see the same form in Gr.ἑλισσω, an extension ofἑιλω, 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]