The River-Names of Europe Part 17

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 Arrabo, 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_, h.o.m.o). 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. _wegi_, 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-G.o.d, so may also the rivers and brooks of our ancestors, in a similar mythic fas.h.i.+on, 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 Medoacus, (=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 Meduana of France and the English Medwin, we have a third form of ending, _wan_ 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_, _wan_, _wied_, in Medway, Meduana, 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, wan, wied, see above._ _England._ The MEDWAY. Kent.

The MEDWIN.

_France._ MEDUANA ant., now the Mayenne.

_Italy._ MEDOACUS 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. ??p??, Lat. _limus_, Old Sax. _lemo_, Mod. Germ. _lehm_, Eng. _lime_, &c.[54]

In the Gr. ????, 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 was.h.i.+ng of a river against its banks--"Quae loca lambit Hydaspes,"--_Horace_. Dugdale observes that "at this day divers of those artificial rivers in Cambridges.h.i.+re, anciently cut to drain the fens, bear the name of Leam, being all muddy channels through which the water hath a dull or slow pa.s.sage." 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. Dorsets.h.i.+re.

_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._ LIMaeA ant., now the LIMA.

_Asia Minor._ LAMUS ant., in Cilicia.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The LEMAN. Devons.h.i.+re.

The LIMEN in Kent. (Limenea _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. Devons.h.i.+re.

The HELME. Suss.e.x.

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. Botia.

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. Perths.h.i.+re.