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. {liparos}, 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. {stear}. 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.