The River-Names of Europe Part 3

1. _With the ending en._ _England._ The EDEN. c.u.mberland. 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 cla.s.sed 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. Staffords.h.i.+re.

The DOW. Yorks.h.i.+re.

_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. _dra_ or _dur_, to move?

1. _England._ The DURRA. Cornwall.

_Germany._ ????a?, 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 Forstemann. "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 pa.s.sing suggestion; even the Sanscrit itself shows me no likely word approaching it, unless perhaps we think of _ara_, swift (_Petersburger Worterbuch_)."

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, Suss.e.x.

_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. Yorks.h.i.+re.

The IRK. Lancas.h.i.+re.

_France._ The OURCQ. Dep. Aisne.

The ORGE and the ARC.

_Belgium._ The HERK. Prov. Limburg.

_Sardinia._ The ARC. Joins the Isere.

_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.