The River-Names of Europe Part 19

[45] Forstemann 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 Graecism 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] Forstemann, 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-a.n.u.s 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. c.u.mberland.

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 _bwau_, Gael. _bogh_, Eng.

_bow_, &c., in the sense of tortuousness, we may take the following.

1. _England._ The BOWE. Shrops.h.i.+re.

_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. ?ap?, 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. _cerran_, to turn or bend, &c., to which I place the following.

1. _England._ The CHAR. Dorsets.h.i.+re.

The CHOR. Lancas.h.i.+re.

The KERR. Middles.e.x.

_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 (Gloucesters.h.i.+re).

_France._ The CHARENTE.

3. _With the ending el._ _Greece._ CORALIS ant. Botia.

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.