The River-Names of Europe Part 5

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The LIDDEN (Leden, _Cod. Dip._) Worcester.

_Scotland._ The LEITHAN. Peebles.

3. _With the ending el._ _Scotland._ The LIDDLE. Joins the Esk.

From the Sansc. _ni_, to move, comes _niran_, water, corresponding with the Mod. Greek ?e??? of the same meaning. And that the Greek word is no new importation into that language, we may judge by the name of Nereus, a water-G.o.d, the son of Neptune. The Gr. ?a?, fluo, the Gael.

_nigh_, to bathe, to wash, and the Obs. Gael. _near_, water, a river, show a close relations.h.i.+p; the Heb. _nhar_, a river, also seems to be allied. Compare the Nore, a name given to part of the estuary of the Thames, with the Narra, the name of the two branches by which the Indus flows into the sea. Also with the Nharawan, an ancient ca.n.a.l from the Tigris towards the Persian Gulf. And with the Curische Nehrung, a strip of land which separates the lagoon called the Curische Haf in Prussia from the waters of the Baltic. On this name Mr. Winning remarks,[17] "I offer the conjecture that the word _nehrung_ is equivalent to our break-water, and that it is derived from the Sabine (or Old Prussian) term _neriene_, strength, bravery." I should propose to give it a meaning a.n.a.logous, but rather different--deriving it from the word in question, _nar_ or _ner_, water, and some equivalent of Old Norse _engia_, coarctare, making _nehrung_ to signify "that which confines the waters" (of the lake). In all these cases there is something of the sense of an estuary, or of a channel communicating with the sea--the Curische Haf being a large lagoon which receives the river Niemen, and discharges it by an outlet into the Baltic. The following names I take to be for the most part of Celtic origin.

1. _England._ The NOW. Derbys.h.i.+re.

The NAR. Norfolk.

The NORE, part of the estuary the Thames.

_Ireland._ NEAGH. A lake, Ulster.

NORE. Joins the Shannon.

_Germany._ NOR(AHA), 8th cent., also called the NAHA.

_Italy._ NAR[18] ant. The NERA.

_Spain._ The NERJA. Malaga.

_Russia._ The NAR(OVA), and the NAREW.

_Europ. Turkey._ NARO ant., now the NARENTA.

_Mauretania._ NIA ant., now the Senegal--here?

_Hindostan._ NARRA, two branches of the Indus--here?

2. _With the ending en, = Sansc. niran, water?_ _Illyria._ The NARON.

_Scotland._ The NAREN or NAIRN.

3. _With the ending es._ _Germany._ The NEERS. Rhen. Pruss.

From the Sansc. _ni_, to move, Gael. _nigh_, to bathe, to wash, comes, I apprehend, the Welsh _nannaw_, _nennig_, _nant_, a small stream.

_England._ The NENE or NEN. Northampton.

The NENT. c.u.mberland.

_Ireland._ The NENAGH. Joins the Shannon.

_France._ The NENNY.

Closely allied to _ni_, to move, I take to be Sansc. _niv_, to flow, Welsh _nofio_, to swim, to float, whence the names undermentioned. The Novius of Ptolemy, supposed to be the Nith, if not a false rendering, might come in here.

1. _France._ The NIVE. Joins the Adour.

_Germany._ NABA, 1st cent., now the NAAB in Bavaria.

_Holland._ NABA or NAVA, 1st cent., now the NAHE or NAVE.

_Spain._ The NAVIA. Falls into the Bay of Biscay.

_Russia._ The NEVA and the NEIVA.

_Hindostan._ The NAAF. Falls into the Bay of Bengal.

2. _With the ending en._ _Persia._ The NABON. Prov. Fars.

_Russ. Pol._ The NIEMEN.[19]

3. _With the ending er._ _Scotland._ The NAVER. River and lake.

_Wales._ The NEVER. Merioneth.

_France._ NIVERIS ant., now the NIEVRE.

_Danub. Prov._ NAPARIS (Herodotus), supposed to be the Ardisch.

4. _With the ending el._ _France and} The NIVELLE. Pyrenees.

Spain._ } _Holland._ NABALIS (Tacitus), by some thought to be the Yssel.

5. _With the ending es._ _Scotland._ The NEVIS. Rises on Ben Nevis.

From the same root, _ni_, to move, and closely connected with the last group, I take to be Sansc. _nis_, to flow, to water. Zeuss (_Die Deutschen_) takes the word, as far as it relates to the rivers of Germany, to be of Slavonic origin. It appears to be the word found as the second part of some Slavonic river-names, as the Yalomnitza. But it is also both Celtic and Teutonic, for the Armorican has _naoz_, a brook, and the German has _nasz_, wet, _na.s.sen_, to be wet.

1. _Scotland._ The NESS. River and lake.

_Germany._ NISA, 11th cent. The NEISSE, two rivers, both of which join the Oder.

_Servia._ The NISS(AVA). Joins the Morava.

_Sicily._ The NISI.

2. _With the ending st._[20]

_France._ The NESTE. Hautes Pyrenees.

_Thrace._ NESTUS ant.

From the Greek ?a?, fluo, comes ??a, a stream, ?aat????? ?d??, running water. Hence seems to be NAMADUS, the name given by the Greek geographers to the Nerbudda of India.

Another form which I take to be derived from the above Sanscrit root _ni_, by the prefix _s_, is Sansc. _snu_, fluere, stillare, (whence Germ. _schnee_, Eng. _snow_, &c.)

_Germany._ ZNUUIA, 11th cent., now the SCHNEI.

_Russia._ The ZNA or TZNA.

A derivative form is the Gael. and Ir. _snidh_ or _snith_, to ooze through, distil, Obs. Gael. and Ir. _snuadh_, to flow, and _snuadh_, a river, whence I take the following. Forstemann refers to Old High German _snidan_, Modern German _schneiden_, to divide, in the sense of a boundary, which is a root suitable enough in itself, though I think it ought to yield the preference to the direct sense of water.

_England._ The SNYTE. Leicesters.h.i.+re.

_Germany._ SNEID(BACH), 8th cent., seems to be now called the Aue.

SMID(AHA), 9th cent., now the SCHMIDA, which joins the Danube. For Snidaha?

The form _snid_ or _snith_ introduces the form _nid_ or _nith_, and suggests the enquiry whether that may not also be a word signifying water. Donaldson, (_Varronia.n.u.s_), referring to a word Nethuns, "found on a Tuscan mirror over a figure manifestly intended for Neptune,"

observes that "there can be little doubt that _nethu_ means water in the Tuscan language." a.s.suming the correctness of the premises, I think that this must be the case; and that as the Naiades (water-nymphs), contain the Greek ?a?; as Nereus (a water-G.o.d), contains the word _ner_ before referred to; as Neptune contains the Greek ??pt?, in each case involving the signification of water, so Nethuns (=Neptunus) must contain a related word _neth_ or _nethun_ of the same meaning. Also that this word comes in its place here, as a derivative of the root _ni_, and as a corresponding form to the Celtic _snidh_ or _snith_.

There are, however, two other meanings which might intermix in the following names; the one is that suggested by Baxter, viz., Welsh _nyddu_, to turn or twist, in the sense of tortuousness; and the other is Old Norse _nidr_, fremor, strepitus.

1. _England._ The NIDD. Yorks.h.i.+re.

_Scotland._ The NITH. Dumfriess.h.i.+re.

_Wales._ The NEATH. Glamorgan.

_France._ The NIED. Joins the Sarre.

_Belgium._ The NETHE. Joins the Ruppel.

_Germany._ NIDA, 8th cent., now the NIDDA.

The NETHE. Joins the Weser.

_Norway._ The NIDA.

_Poland._ The NIDDA.

_Greece._ NEDA ant., now the Buzi in Elis.

2. _With the ending en._ _Scotland._ The NETHAN. Lesmahago.

3. _With the ending rn (see note p. 34)._ _Germany._ NITORNE, 9th cent., now the NIDDER.