The River-Names of Europe Part 8

_Russia._ The PERNAU. Gulf of Riga.

From the Sansc. _plu_, to flow, Lat. _pluo_ and _fluo_, come Sansc.

_plavas_, flux, Lat. _pluvia_ and _fluvius_, Gr. p????, lavo, Ang.-Sax. _flowe_, _flum_, Lat. _flumen_, river, &c. Hence we get the following.

1. _Germany._ The PLAU, river and lake.[25] Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

_Holland._ FLEVO, 1st cent. The Zuiderzee, the outlet of which, between Vlieland and Sch.e.l.ling, is still called VLIE.

_Aust. Italy._ PLAVIS ant. The PIAVE, falls into the Adriatic.

2. _With the ending en._ _France._ The PLAINE. Joins the Meurthe.

_Germany._ The PLONE. Joins the Haff.

The PLAN-SEE, a lake in the Tyrol.

_Holstein._ PLOEN. A lake.

_Poland._ The PLONNA. Prov. Plock.

From the above root come also the following, which compare with Sansc.

_plavas_, Mid. High Germ. _vlieze_, Mod. Germ. _fliess_, Old Fries.

_flet_, Old Norse _fliot_, stream. And I think that some at least of this group are German.

1. _England._ The FLEET. Joins the Trent.

The FLEET, now called the Fleetditch in London.

_Scotland._ The FLEET. Kirkcudbright.

_Germany._ BLEISA, 10th cent. The PLEISSE.

_Holland._ FLIETA, 9th cent. The VLIET.

_Russia._ The PLIUSA. Gulf of Finland.

2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ FLIEDINA, 8th cent. The FLIEDEN.

The FLIETN(ITZ). Pruss. Pom.

3. _With the ending st._ _Holland._ The VLIEST.

_Greece._ PLEISTUS ant., near Delphi.

There are two more forms from the same root, the former of which we may refer to the Irish and Gael. _fluisg_, a flus.h.i.+ng or flowing. The latter shows a form nearest to the Ang.-Sax. and Old High Germ. _flum_, Lat.

_flumen_, though I think that the names must be rather Celtic.

1. _Ireland._ The FLISK. Falls into the Lake of Killarney.

_Germany._ The PLEISKE. Joins the Oder.

2. _England._ The PLYM, by Plymouth.

_Scotland._ The PALME, by Palmton.

_Siberia._ The PELYM. Gov. Tobolsk.

From the Sansc. _gam_, to go, is derived, according to Bopp and Monier Williams, the name of the Ganges, in Sanscrit Ganga. The word is in fact the same as the Scotch "gang," which seems to be derived more immediately from the Old Norse _ganga_. In the sense of "that which goes," the Hindostanee has formed _gung_, a river, found in the names of the Ramgunga, the Kishengunga, the Chittagong, and other rivers of India. The same ending is found by Forstemann in the old names of one or two German rivers, as the Leo near Salzburg, which in the 10th cent. was called the LIUGANGA. Another name for the Ganges is the Pada, for which Hindoo ingenuity has sought an origin in the myth of its rising from the foot of Vishnoo. But as _pad_ and _gam_ in Sanscrit have both the same meaning, viz., to go, I am inclined to suggest that the two names Ganga and Pada may simply be synonymes of each other.

1. _India._ The GANGES. Sanscrit GANGA.

The GINGY. Pondicherry.

_Russia._ The KHANK(OVA). Joins the Don.

2. _With the ending et._ _Greece._ GANGITUS ant., in Macedonia.

The Sansc. verb _gam_, to go, along with its allied forms, is formed on a simpler verb _ga_, of the same meaning. To this I put the following.

1. _Holland._ The GOUW. Joins the Yssel.

_Persia._ CHOES or CHO(ASPES)[26] ant.

2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ GEWIN(AHA), 9th cent., now the JAHN(BACH).

3. _Compounded with ster, river._ _Asia Minor._ The CAYSTER and CESTRUS--here?

The Sansc. _ikh_, to move, must, I think, contain the root of the following, though I find no derivatives in any sense nearer to that of water or river.

1. _Russia._ The IK. Two rivers.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ ICENA (_Cod. Dip._) The ITCHEN.

_France._ ICAUNA ant. The IONNE.

3. _With the ending el._ _Moravia._ The IGLA or IGL(AWA).

_France._ The ECOLLE. Dep. Seine-et-Oise.

From the Sansc. _dravas_, flowing, are derived, according to Bopp, the Drave and the Trave. The root-verb is, I presume, _dra_, to move. Hence I have suggested, p. 37, may be the Welsh _dwr_, water.

1. _Scotland._ The TARF, several small rivers--here?

_Germany._ DRAVUS, 1st cent. The DRAVE, Germ. DRAU.

_Italy._ The TREBBIA. Joins the Po.

2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ TRAVENA, 10th cent., now the TRAVE.

TREWINA, 9th cent. The DRAN.

DRONA, 9th cent. The DRONE.

TRUNA, 7th cent. The TRAUN.

_France._ The DRONNE. Joins the Isle.

In the Sansc. _dram_, to move, to run, Gr. d???, whence _dromedary_, &c., is to be found the root of the following. But _dram_, as I take it, is an interchanged form with the preceding _drav_, as _amon_ = _avon_, &c., _ante_.

1. _Scotland._ The TROME and the TRUIM. Inverness.

_France._ The DROME and the DARME.

_Belgium._ The DURME.

_Germany._ The DARM, by Darmstadt.

2. _With the ending en._ _Norway._ The DRAMMEN. Christiania Fjord.

Another word of the same meaning as the last, and perhaps allied in its root, is Sansc. _trag_, to run, Gr. t????, Goth. _thragjan_. It will be observed that the above Greek verb mixes up in its tenses with the obsolete verb d??? of the preceding group. In all these words signifying to run there may be something of rapidity, though I am not able to remove them out of this category.

1. _France._ The DRAC. Joins the Isere.

_Prussia._ The DRAGE.

_Greece._ TRAGUS ant.

_Italy._ The TREJA. Joins the Tiber.

2. _With the ending en._ _Sicily._ The TRACHINO. Joins the Simeto.