The River-Names of Europe Part 23

1. _France._ The GARD. Joins the Rhone.

_Germany._ GARD(AHA), 8th cent. The GART(ACH).

The KART(HAUE) in Prussia.

2. _With the ending en._ _Scotland._ The GAIRDEN. Joins the Dee.

_France._ The GARDON. Joins the Rhone.

_Greece._ JARDa.n.u.s ant. in Crete--here?

In the Gael. _sgia_, Welsh _ysgw_, guard, protection, and in the Welsh _ysgi_, separation or division, we have two senses, of which the latter may be more suitable for the following. The Editor of Smith's Ancient Geography suggests that the Scius of Herodotus may be the present Isker in Bulgaria: in an etymological point of view this seems probable, for as Scius = Welsh _ysgi_, so Isker = Welsh _ysgar_ of the same meaning.

_Netherlands._ The SCHIE by Schiedam.

_Danub. Prov._ SCIUS ant., now the ISKER?

From the Gael. _scar_, _sgar_, Welsh _ysgar_, Ang.-Sax. _sceran_, to divide, in the sense of boundary, may be the following. The small river Scarr in Dumfriesshire forms for six miles a boundary between different parishes.[65]

1. _England._ The SHERE. Kent.

_Scotland._ The SCARR. Dumfriesshire.

The SHIRA. Argyle.

_Germany._ SCERE, 11th cent. The SCHEER.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The SKERNE. Durham.

_Germany._ SCHYRNE, 11th cent., not identified.

Any names in which the sense of _land_, terra, occurs, may, I think, be explained most reasonably in the sense of boundary or territorial division. To this Grimm places the FULDA of Germany, FULD(AHA), 8th cent., referring it to Old High Germ. _fulta_, Ang.-Sax. _folde_, earth, ground.

Perhaps also to a similar origin may be referred the MOLD(AU) in Bohemia, and the MOLD(AVA) of Moldavia. But the Gael. and Ir. _malda_, _malta_, gentle, slow, Anglo-Sax. _milde_, Eng. _mild_, may be perhaps more suitable: the MULDE, which joins the Elbe, and which in the 8th cent. appears as MILDA, seems more probably from this origin.

The BORD(AU), formerly BORDINE, which forms for some distance the boundary between East and West Friesland, may, as suggested by Forstemann, be derived from Old Fries. and Anglo-Saxon _bord_, border.

Another river of the same name (p. 33) may perhaps be otherwise derived.

I am inclined to bring in here the GRANTA, and to suggest that it may have been a Sax. or Angle name of the Cam, or of a certain part of the Cam. This river seems to have formed one of the boundaries of the country of the Gyrvii;[66] its name appears in Henry of Huntingdon as Grenta; and the Old Norse _grend_, Mod. Germ. _grenze_, boundary, seems a probable etymon.

FOOTNOTES:

[65] Statistical account of Scotland.

[66] See an article by the Rev. W. Stubbs on "The Foundation and early Fasti of Peterborough," in the Archaeological Journal for Sept., 1861.

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 subst.i.tute, 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 Sw.i.l.l.y. 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. Liege.

_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.