CHAPTER XI.

VARIOUS DERIVATIONS.

In this chapter I include some names which do not come under any of the foregoing heads, or which have been omitted in their places.

The following have generally been referred to Gael. _caol_, straight, narrow.

1. _England._ The COLE. Warwickshire. The COLY. Devon.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The COLNE. Three rivers.

But even if this derivation is to be received, we must seek another meaning for the KOLA in Russian Lapland, and the KOLI(MA) in Siberia--the latter in particular being a large river, with a wide estuary.

The Gael. and Ir. _beag_, little, forms the ending of some Irish river-names, as the AWBEG, the OWENBEG, and the AROBEG.[67] The meaning in all these cases is "little river"--_owen_ being the same as _avon_, _aw_ the simple form _av_ of the same word, and _aro_ an appellative as at p. 38, now lost in the Celtic.

From the Gael. _suail_, small, have also been derived the Swale and other following rivers. Chalmers rightly objects to this as inconsistent with the character of the rivers, though the derivation which he proposes to substitute, from _ys-wall_, a sheltered place, affords, it must be admitted, no very happy alternative. I think the word contained must be related to Old High German _swal_, Old Norse _svelgr_, gurges, Eng. _swell_, though it is wanting in the Celtic.

1. _England._ The SWALE. Two rivers, Kent and Yorkshire. The SWILY. Gloucestershire. _Ireland._ The SWELLY. Donegal. The SWILLY. Ulster. _Germany._ SUALA ant. The SCHWALE. _France._ SULGAS ant., now the Sorgue. _Russia._ The SULA--here?

2. _With the ending en._ _Ireland._ The SULLANE.

The following must be referred to Old High Germ. _sualm_, gurges, an extension of the previous word _sual_.

_Germany._ SUALMAN(AHA), 8th century. The SCHWALM. SULMANA, 8th cent. The SULM. _Belgium._ The SALM. Prov. Liège. _France._ The SOLMAN. Dep. Jura.

The Shannon has by some writers been derived from Ir. _sean_ or _shean_, old. But inasmuch as there is no river that is otherwise than old, the term could only be used in a poetic sense, like "that ancient river, the river Kishon." A more suitable etymon, however, seems to me to be found in Ir. and Obs. Gael. _siona_, delay; this corresponds with the Gaelic form of the name, Sionan, given by Armstrong.

_Scotland._ The SHIN. Sutherland. _Ireland._ SENUS (Ptolemy). The SHANNON. _Germany._ SINNA, 8th cent. The SINN. _Belgium._ The SENNE. Joins the Dyle. _Italy._ SENA ant., now the Nevola. _Aust. Pol._ The SAN, two rivers--here? _India._ The SEENA--here?

From the Gael. _cobhair_, Ir. _cubhair_, foam, froth, appear to be the following.

_England._ The COBER. Cornwall. The COVER. Yorkshire. _Russia._ The CHOPER. _Asia._ CHABORAS ant., now the KHABUR--here? _India._ CHABERIS ant., now the CAVERI--here?

From the Ir. and Obs. Gael. _breath_, pure, clear, I take to be the following.

_England._ The BRATHA. Lake District. _Scotland._ The BROTH(OCK). Forfar. _Germany._ The BRETT(ACH). Joins the Kocher. The BRAT(AWA) in Bohemia. BRAHT(AHA),[68] 10th century. The BRACHT--here? _Asia Minor._ PRACTIUS ant.--here?

And from the Ir. _brag_, running water, I follow Mone in taking the following.

1. _England._ The BRAY. Devon. _Ireland._ The BRAY. Wicklow. _France._ The BRAY. Joins the Loire. _Germany._ The BREGE, in the Scharwarzwald.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The BRAINE. Joins the Blackwater. _Ireland._ BREAGNA, an old name for the Boyne.

A root for river-names, to which might be put the following, is found by Förstemann in Old High Germ. _rôr_, Mod. Germ. _rohr_, arundo, Eng. _rush_.

_Germany._ ROR(AHA), 11th century, now the ROHRBACH. RURA, 8th cent. The RUHR. _Holland._ The ROER. Joins the Maas.

The word _sil_ in river-names would seem to have the meaning of still or sluggish water. The Gael. has _sil_, to drop, rain, drip; and the Arm. has _sila_, to filter. (The Old Fries. _sil_, canal, seems hardly a related word; it appears more probably to be connected with Old Norse _sîla_, to cut, to furrow.) According to Pliny, the Scythian name of the Tanais or Don was Silis; and several other Scythian rivers had the same name, (_Grimm, Gesch. d. Deutsch. Sprach._) In this point of view the above derivation might seem too restricted, and we might think of _sil_, as of _sal_, (p. 75), as formed by the prefix _s_ from the root _al_ or _il_, to go, (p. 71), in the simple meaning of water. According to Strabo and Pliny the Silaris of Italy had the property of petrifying any plant thrown into it; but as, according to Cluvier, the modern inhabitants of its banks know nothing of any such property, it would rather seem as if the story had been made to fit the supposed connection of the name with _silex_, flint.

1. _Switzerland._ SIL(AHA), 11th cent. The SIHL. _Italy._ SILIS ant., now the SILE. _Scotland._ The SHIEL in Argyleshire--here? _Germany._ The SCHYL (ant. Tiarantus)--here?

2. _With the ending en._ _Sweden._ SILJAN. Lake. _Russia._ The SHELON--here?

3. _With the ending er._ _Naples._ SILARIS ant., now the SILARO.

The form _silv_ I take to be an extension of _sil_, similar to others previously noticed.

1. _Russia._ The SILVA. Gov. Perm.

2. _With the ending er._ _England._ The SILVER. Devon.

The SIMOIS in the Plain of Troy I have suggestively placed at p. 119 to Gael. _saimh_, slow, tranquil. But, taking the epithet _lubricus_ applied to it by Horace, we might perhaps seek a stronger sense from the same root, as found in Welsh _seimio_, to grease, _saim_, tallow.

The water of the LIPARIS in Cilicia, according to Polyclitus, as quoted by Pliny, was of such an unctuous quality that it was used in place of oil. Probably only for the purpose of anointing the person, to which extent the story is confirmed by Vitruvius. Hence no doubt its name, from Sansc. _lip_, to be greasy, Gr. {liparos}, unctuous.

Grimm (_Gesch. d. Deutsch. Sprach._) suggests a similar origin for the Ister, p. 117, referring it to Old Norse _istra_, Dan. _ister_, fat, grease, Gr. {stear}. He puts it, however, in a metaphorical sense, as "the fattening, fructifying river." With deference, however, to so high an authority, this explanation seems to me rather doubtful. For the ending _ster_, as I have elsewhere observed, is common to many river-names, and I have taken it to be, like the Arm. _ster_, formed by a phonetic _t_, from the Sansc. _sri_, to flow.

Also, from the root of the Sansc. _sri_, to flow, I take to be Gael. _sruam_, and again taking the phonetic _t_, the word _stream_, _strom_, common to all the Teutonic dialects. In these two forms we find the ancient names of two rivers--the SYRMUS of Thrace, and the STRYMON or STRUMON, the present STRUMA, of Macedonia.

FOOTNOTES:

[67] The derivation at p. 120 I must retract, finding _beg_ as a termination of other Irish river-names.

[68] Wiegand, (Oberhessische ortsnamen), refers this name to Old High Germ. _braht_, fremitus.