The River-Names of Europe - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
2. _With the ending er._ _Russia._ The SESTRA. Gov. Moskow.
_Germany._ The SOSTER(BACH). Joins the Lippe.
To the above root I also place the following, corresponding more distinctly with Old High German _schuzzen_, Ang.-Sax. _sceotan_, Eng.
_shoot_, Obs. Gael. and Ir. _sciot_, dart, arrow.[43]
1. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ SCUZNA, 8th cent., now the SCHUSSEN.
SCUZEN ant., now the SCHOZACH.
2. _With the ending er._ _Germany._ SCUTARA, 10th cent., now the SCHUTTER, two rivers.
Sc.u.n.tRA, 8th cent., now the SCHONDRA and the SCHUNTER.
From the Germ. _jagen_, to hunt, to drive or ride fast, Bender derives the name of the Jaxt, in the sense of swiftness, suggesting also a comparison with the ancient Jaxartes of Asia. Forstemann considers both suggestions doubtful, but the former seems to me to be reasonable enough. The older sense of _jagen_ is found in the Sansc. _yug_, to dart forth, formed on the simple verb _ya_, to go. And appellatives are found in the Finnic words _jokk_, _joggi_, a river. As for the Jaxartes, I am rather inclined to think that the more correct form would be Jazartes, and that it contains the word _jezer_, before referred to.
1. _Russia._ The JUG. Joins the Dwina.
2. _With the ending et._ _Italy._ JACTUS ant. Affluent of the Po.
_Persia._ The JAGHATU.
_Germany._ The JAHDE,[44] in Oldenburg.
3. _With the ending st._ _Germany._ JAGISTA ant., now the _Jaxt_ or _Jagst_.
From the root _vip_, to move, p. 64, by the prefix _s_, is formed Old Norse _svipa_, Ang.-Sax. _swifan_, Eng. _sweep_, &c. In these the sense varies between going fast and going round, and the same may be the case in the following names.
_France._ The SUIPPE. Joins the Aisne.
_Germany._ SUEVUS, 2nd cent., now the Warnow, or, according to Zeuss, the Oder.
SUAB(AHA), 8th cent., now the SCHWAB(ACH).
From the Obs. Gael. _sgiap_, _sgiob_, to move rapidly, Eng. _skip_, may be the following.
1. _England._ The SHEAF, by Sheffield.
_Germany._ SCIFFA, 9th cent., now the SCHUPF.
_Asia Min._ SCOPAS ant., now the Aladan.
2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The SKIPPON. Joins the Wyre.
In the Gael. _brais_, impetuous, related perhaps to Lat. _verso_, we may find the root of the following.
1. _Germany._ The BIRSE. Prussia.
_Switzerland._ The BIRSE. Cant. Berne.
2. _With the ending en._ _Ireland._ The BROSNA. Leinster.
_Transylvania._ The BURZEN. Joins the Aluta.
_Pruss. Pol._ The PROSNA.
3. _With the ending el._ _France._ The BRESLE. Enters the English Channel.
4. _With the ending ent._ _Germany._ The PERSANTE. Pruss. Pom.
From the Sansc. _rab_ or _rav_, to dart forth, whence (in a somewhat changed sense) Eng. _rave_, French _ravir_, Lat. _rabidus_, &c. The original meaning of a ravine was a great flood, or as Cotgrave expresses it--"A ravine or inundation of water, which overwhelmeth all things that come in its way."
1. _Ireland._ The ROBE. Connaught.
_India._ The RAVEE or Iraotee--here?
2. _With the ending en._ _England._ Various small streams called RAVEN, RAVENBECK, &c.
_France._ The ROUBION, affluent of the Rhone--here?
From the Sansc. _math_, to move, are derived, as I take it, Old High German _muot_, Mod. Germ. _muth_, Ang.-Sax. _mod_, courage or spirit, Welsh _mwyth_, swift, &c., to which I place the following.
1. _Switzerland._ The MUOTTA. Cant. Schwytz.
2. _Compounded with vey, stream or river._ _Wales._ The MUTHVEY. Three rivers.
The Sansc. _sphar_, _sphurj_, to burst forth, shews the root of a number of words such as _spark_, _spring_, _spirt_, _spruce_, _spry_, in which the sense of briskness or liveliness is more or less contained. But the Sansc. _sphar_ or _spar_ must be traced back to a simpler form _spa_ or _spe_, as found in _spew_, to vomit, and in the word _spa_, now confined to medicinal springs.
1. _Scotland._ The SPEY. Elgin.
2. _With the ending en._ _Scotland._ The SPEAN.
3. _With the ending er._ _Scotland._ The SPEAR.
_Germany._ SPIRA, 8th cent., now the SPEIER.
The SPREE. Joins the Havel.
Derived forms from the above root are also the following, which correspond more closely with Germ. _sprutsen_, Ang.-Sax. _sprytan_, Eng.
_spirt_, Ital. _sprizzare_. And I think that most of these names are probably German.
_England._ The SPRINT, a small stream in Westmoreland.
_Germany._ SPRAZAH, 9th cent., some stream in Lower Austria.
The SPROTTA in Silesia.
SPRENZALA, 8th cent., now the SPRENZEL.
SPURCHINE(BACH),[45] 9th cent., now the SPIRCKEL(BACH).
_Eu. Turkey._ The SPRESSA. Joins the Bosna.
In the preceding chapter I have treated of the root _al_, _el_, _il_, to go, and various of its derivations. There is another, _alac_, _alc_, _ilc_, which, as it seems most probably either to have the meaning of swiftness, as in the Lat. _alacer_, or of tortuousness, as in the Greek ??????, I include in this place.
1. _Russia._ The ILEK. Joins the Ural.
_Sicily._ HALYCUS ant., now the Platani.
_Asia Minor._ ALCES ant. Bithynia.
2. _Compounded with may, main, river._ _Siberia._ The OLEKMA. Joins the Lena.
_Germany._ ALKMANA, 8th century, now the Altmuhl.
_Greece._ HALIACMON ant., now the Vistritsa.
From the Welsh _tarddu_, to burst forth, we may take the following.
There does not seem any connection between this and the root of _dart_ (jaculum); the latter from the first signifies penetration, and in river-names comes before us in the oblique sense of clearness or transparency.
1. _Scotland._ The TARTH. Lanarks.h.i.+re.
_Libya._ DARADUS ant., now the Rio di Ouro.
_Armenia._ DARADAX[46] ant. (Xenophon).
