CHAPTER VI.

CHARACTER OF COURSE.

In the inscription of Pul found at Nineveh, as deciphered in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, vol. 19, pt. 2, the Euphrates is called the Irat, which is conjectured by the translator to have been a local name. It seems to be from the Sansc. _irat_ (=Latin _errans_, Eng. _errant_), from the verb _ir_, Lat. _erro_, to wander. The same word seems to be found in the Irati of Spain--perhaps also in the Orontes (=Irantes=Irates), of Syria. Possibly also in the Erid-anus or Po, though I am rather inclined to agree with Latham that the word contained therein is only _ridan_.[57] Perhaps then the form Irt or Urt in river-names may be a contracted form of _irat_, as we find it in the Germ. _irrthum_, a mistake.

1. _England._ The IRT. Cumberland. URTIUS ant., now the IRTHING. _Belgium._ URTA, 9th cent., now the OURT. The ERENS. _Spain._ The IRATI. Prov. Navarra. _Asia._ IRAT, a name of the Euphrates.

2. _With the ending el._ _Germany._ URTELLA, 9th cent., now the Sensbach.

From the Sansc. _bhuj_, Goth. _bjugan_, Welsh _bwäu_, Gael. _bogh_, Eng. _bow_, &c., in the sense of tortuousness, we may take the following.

1. _England._ The BOWE. Shropshire. _Scotland._ The BOGIE. Aberdeen. _Russia._ The BUG. Joins the Dnieper.

2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ The BOGEN. Joins the Danube.

3. _With the ending et._ _Scotland._ The BUCKET. Aberdeen.

From the Gael. and Welsh _cam_, to bend, Sansc. _kamp_, Gr. {kampô}, are the following.

_England._ The CAM by Cambridge. _Germany._ CAMBA, 8th cent. The KAMP. The CHAM in Bavaria. _Switzerland._ The KAM. _Norway._ The KAM. Joins the Glommen. _Russia._ The KAMA. Joins the Volga. The KEMI. Two rivers.

The Sansc. root _car_, to move, branches out into two different meanings, that of rapidity and that of circuitousness, the former of which I have included in the previous chapter. In the latter sense we have the Gael. _car_ or _char_, tortuous, the Ang.-Sax. _cêrran_, to turn or bend, &c., to which I place the following.

1. _England._ The CHAR. Dorsetshire. The CHOR. Lancashire. The KERR. Middlesex. _Scotland._ COR(ABONA)[58] ant. The CARRON. _France._ The CHER. Joins the Loire. _Greece._ CHARES ant. Colchis. _Persia._ CYRUS ant., now the KUR.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ CIRENUS ant. The CHURNE (Gloucestershire). _France._ The CHARENTE.

3. _With the ending el._ _Greece._ COR[)A]LIS ant. B[oe]otia. CURALIUS ant. Thessaly. _Russia._ The KOROL. Joins the Dnieper.

From the Old High Germ. _crumb_, Mod. German _krumm_, Danish _krumme_, Gael. and Welsh _crom_, curving or bending, we may take the following. The root seems to be found in the Sansc. _kram_, to move, to go, which, as in other similar cases, may also diverge into the meaning of rapidity.

1. _England._ The CRUMM(OCK), formerly CRUM(BECK), which forms the lake of the same name. _Germany._ CRUMB(AHA), 10th cent., now the GRUMB(ACH). _Russia._ The KROMA. Gov. Orel.

2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ CHRUMBIN(BACH), 8th cent., now the KRUM(BACH).

3. _With the ending er._ _Italy._ CREMERA ant. in Etruria.

4. _With the ending es._ _Germany._ The KREMS. Joins the Danube. _Sicily._ CREMISUS ant.

For the root _sid_ we have the Welsh _sid_, winding, and the Anglo-Saxon _sîd_, broad, spreading. The former is, I think, the sense contained in the following, though both words may be from the same root.

1. _England._ The SID. Devonshire.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The SEATON. Cornwall.

3. _With the ending rn, p. 34._ _Switzerland._ SITERUNA, 8th cent., now the SITTER or SITTERN.

Baxter's derivation of the Derwent from Welsh _derwyn_, to wind, appears to me the most suitable. That of Zeuss (taking the form Druentia), from _dru_, oak, seems insufficient; because the number of names, all in the same form, seem to indicate that the word contained must be something more than _dru_. That of Armstrong, from _dear_, great, _amhain_, river, is founded upon a careless hypothesis that the Derwent of Cumberland is the largest river in the North of England, which is not by any means the case.

_England._ The DERWENT. Four rivers. TREONTA ant. The TRENT. _France._ DRUENTIA ant., now the DURANCE. _Germany._ The DREWENZ. Prussia. _Italy._ TRUENTIUS ant., now the TRENTO. _Russia._ TURUNTUS ant., now the DUNA.

In the sense of tortuousness I am inclined to bring in the following, referring them to Old Norse _meis_, curvatura, Eng. _maze_, &c. This seems most suitable to the character of the rivers, as the Maese or Meuse, and the Moselle. The word seems wanting in the Celtic, unless we think of the Welsh _mydu_, to arch, to vault. The other word which might put in a claim is _mos_, which, in the sense of marsh, is to be traced both in the Celtic and German speech, and whence, as supposed, the name of the ancient Mysia or M[oe]sia.

1. _England._ The MAESE. Derbyshire. _Scotland._ The MASIE. Aberdeen. _France, &c._ MOSA, 1st cent. B.C. The MAAS, MAES, or MEUSE. _Germany._ MISS(AHA), 8th cent. The MEISS(AU). The MIES in Bohemia.

2. _With the ending en._ _Italy._ The MUSONE. Two rivers.

3. _With the ending el._ _Germany._ MOSELLA, 1st cent. The MOSELLE.

The only names which appear to contain an opposite sense to the foregoing are the BEINA of Norway, and the BANE of Lincolnshire, which seem to be from Old Norse _beinn_, North Eng. _bain_, straight, direct.

FOOTNOTES:

[57] That is, if it be the name of any real river falling into the Baltic, (the Rhodaune by Dantzic is suggested by some); but according to Heeren and Sir G. Lewis the Eridanus was a purely poetical stream, without any geographical position or character.--_See an article by Sir G. Lewis in Notes and Queries, July 3, 1858._

[58] In this case the ending _en_ is very clearly a contraction of _abon_ or _avon_, river.