The River-Names of Europe Part 6

There can hardly be a doubt that the words _sar_, _sor_, _sur_, so widely spread in the names of rivers, are to be traced to the Sansc.

_sar_, _sri_, to move, to go, _sru_, to flow, whence _saras_, water, _sarit_, _srota_, river. The Permic and two kindred dialects of the Finnic cla.s.s have the simple form _sor_ or _sur_, a river, and the Gaelic and Irish have the derived form _sruth_, to flow, _sroth_, _sruth_, river. In the names Sorg, Sark, Sarco, I rather take the guttural to have accrued.

1. _England._ The SOAR. Leicester.

The SARK, forms the boundary between England and Scotland.

_France._ The SERRE. Joins the Oise.

_Germany._ SARAVUS ant., now the SAAR.

SORAHA, 8th cent., a small stream seemingly now unnamed.

SURA, 7th cent. The SURE and the SUR.

The SORG. Prussia.

_Switzerland._ The SARE and the SUR.

_Norway._ The SURA.

_Russia._ The SURA. Joins the Volga.

The SVIR, falls into Lake Ladoga.

_Lombardy._ The SERIO. Joins the Adda.

The SERCHIO or SARCO.

_Portugal._ The SORA. Joins the Tagus.

_Asia._ SERUS ant., now the Meinam.

_Asia Minor._ SARUS ant., now the Sihon.

_India._ SARAYU[21] ant., now the Sardju.

_Armenia._ ARIUS[22] ant., now the Heri Rud.

2. _With the ending en._ _France._ The SERAN. Joins the Rhone.

The SERAIN. Joins the Yonne.

_Germany._ SORNA, 8th cent. The ZORN.

_Switzerland._ The SUREN. Cant. Aargau.

_Naples._ SARNUS ant. The SARNO.

_Persia._ SARNIUS ant., now the Atrek.

The form _saras_, water, seems to be found in the following two names.

1. _With the ending en._ _France._ The SARSONNE. Dep. Correze.

2. _Compounded with wati = Goth. wato, water._ _India._ The SARASWATI, which still retains its ancient name.

And the Sansc. _sarit_, Gael. and Ir. _sroth_, _sruth_, a river, seem to be found in the following.

_Ireland._ The SWORDS river near Dublin.

_France._ The SARTHE. Joins the Mayenne.

_Galicia._ The SERED. Joins the Dniester.

_Moldavia._ The SERETH. Ant. Ararus.

_Russia._ The SARAT(OVKA).[23] Gov. Saratov.

It would seem that the foregoing forms _sri_, _sru_, _srot_, sometimes take a phonetic _t_, and become _stri_, _stru_, _strot_. Thus one Celtic dialect, the Armorican, changes _sur_ into _ster_, and another, the Cornish, changes _sruth_ into _struth_--both words signifying a river.

But indeed the natural tendency towards it is too obvious to require much comment. Hence we may take the names Stry and Streu. But is the form Stur from this source also? Forstemann finds an etymon in Old High German _stur_, Old Norse _stor_, great. This may obtain in the case of some of the rivers of Scandinavia, but is hardly suited for those of England and Italy, none of which are large. The root, moreover, seems too widely spread, if, as I suspect, it is this which forms the ending of many ancient names as the Cayster, the Cestrus, the Alster, Elster, Ister, Danastris, &c. The Armorican _ster_, a river, seems to be the word most nearly concerned.

1. _The form stry, stru, stur._ _England._ STURIUS (Ptolemy). The STOUR. There are six rivers of this name.

_Germany._ STROWA, 8th cent. The STREU.

_Holstein._ STURIA, 10th cent. The SToR.

_Italy._ STURA, two rivers.

STORAS (Strabo), now the ASTURA.

_Aust. Poland._ The STRY. Joins the Dniester.

The STYR. Joins the Pripet.

2. _The form struth._ _England._ The STROUD. Gloucester.

The STORT. Ess.e.x.

_Germany._ The UNSTRUT Forstemann places here, as far as the ending _strut_ is concerned.

From the Sanscrit root _su_, liquere, come Sansc. _sava_, water, Old High German _sou_, Lat. _succus_, moisture, Gael. _sugh_, a wave, &c.; (on the apparent resemblance between Sansc. _sava_, water and Goth.

_saivs_, sea, Diefenbach observes, we must not build). Hence I take to be the following; but a word very liable to intermix is Gael. _sogh_, tranquil; and where the character of stillness is very marked, I have taken them under that head.

1. _England._ The SOW. Warwicks.h.i.+re.

_Ireland._ The SUCK. Joins the Shannon.

_France._ The SAVE. Joins the Garonne.

_Belgium._ SABIS, 1st cent. B.C., now the Sambre.

_Germany._ SAVUS ant. The SAVE or SAU.

The SoVE. Joins the Elbe.

_Russia._ The SEVA.

_Italy._ The SAVIO. Pont. States.

The SIEVE. Joins the Arno.

2. _With the ending en._ _Italy._ The SAVENA or SAONA. Piedmont.

_Armenia._ The SEVAN. Lake.

3. _With the ending er._ _Ireland._ SEVERUS ant. The SUIRE.

_Germany._ SEVIRA, 9th cent. The ZEYER.

_France._ The SEVRE. Two rivers.

_Spain._ SUCRO ant. The XUCAR.

_Portugal._ The SABOR.

4. _With the ending rn (see note p. 34)._ _England._ SABRINA ant. The SEVERN.

_France._ The SEVRON. Dep. Saone-et-Loire.

_Russ. Pol._ The SAVRAN(KA). Gov. Podolia.

5. _With the ending es._ _Lombardy._ The SAVEZO near Milano.

In the Sanscrit _mih_, to flow, to pour, Old Norse _miga_, scaturire, Anglo-Saxon _migan_, _mihan_, to water, Sansc. _maighas_, rain, Old Norse _migandi_, a torrent--("unde," says Haldorsen, "nomina propria multorum torrentium"), Obs. Gael. and Ir. _machd_, a wave, I find the root of the following. Most of the names are no doubt from the Celtic, though the traces of the root are more faint in that tongue than in the Teutonic. This I take to be the word, which in the forms _ma_, and _man_ or _men_, forms the ending of several river-names.

1. _Scotland._ The MAY. Perths.h.i.+re.

_Ireland._ The MAIG and the MOY.

_Wales._ The MAY and the MAW.

_France._ The MAY.

_Siberia._ The MAIA. Joins the Aldon.

_India._ The MHYE. Bombay.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The MAWN. Notts.

The MEON. Hants. (Meon ea, _Cod. Dip._) _Ireland._ The MAIN and the MOYNE.

_France._ The MAINE. Two rivers.

_Belgium._ The MEHAIGNE. Joins the Scheldt.