The River-Names of Europe Part 7

_Germany._ MOENUS ant. The MAIN.

_Sardinia._ The MAINA. Joins the Po.

_Siberia._ The MAIN. Joins the Anadyr.

_India._ The MEGNA. Prov. Bengal.

The MAHANUDDY--here?

3. _With the ending er._ _Italy._ The MAGRA. Falls into the Gulf of Genoa.

4. _With the ending el._ _England._ The MEAL. Shrops.h.i.+re.

_Denmark._ The MIELE. Falls into the German Ocean.

5. _With the ending st._[24]

_Asia Minor._ The MACESTUS. Joins the Rhyndacus.

From the root _mi_, to flow, come also Sansc. _miras_, Lat. _mare_, Goth. _marei_, Ang.-Sax. _mer_, Germ. _meer_, Welsh _mar_, _mor_, Gael.

and Ir. _muir_, Slav. _morie_, &c., sea or lake. I should be more inclined however to derive most of the following from the cognate Sansc.

_maerj_, to wash, to water, Lat. _mergo_, &c. Also, the Celtic _murg_, in the more definite sense of a mora.s.s, may come in for some of the forms.

1. _France._ The MORGE. Dep. Isere.

_Germany._ MARUS (Tacitus). The MARCH, Slav. MOR(AVA).

MUORA, 8th cent. The MUHR.

MURRA, 10th cent. The MURR.

_Belgium._ MURGA, 7th cent. The MURG.

The MARK. Joins the Scheldt.

_Switzerland._ The MURG. Cant. Thurgau.

_Sardinia._ The MORA. Div. Novara.

_Servia._ MARGUS ant. The MORAVA.

_Italy._ The MARECCHIA. Pont. States--here?

_India._ The MERGUI--here?

2. _With the ending en._ _Ireland._ The MOURNE. Ulster.

_Germany._ MARNE, 11th cent., now the MARE.

MERINA, 11th cent. The MoRN.

3. _With the ending es._ _England._ The MERSEY. Lancas.h.i.+re.

_Germany._ MUORIZA, 10th cent. The MURZ.

_Dacia._ MARISUS ant. The MAROSCH.

_Phrygia._ MARSYAS ant.

Another form of Sansc. _marj_, to wet, to wash, is _masj_, whence I take the following.

_Ireland._ MASK, a lake in Connaught.

_Russia._ The MOSK(VA), by Moscow, to which it gives the name.

From the Sanscrit _vag_ or _vah_, to move, comes _vahas_, course, flux, current, cognate with which are Goth. _wegs_, Germ. _woge_, Eng. _wave_, &c. An allied Celtic word is found as the ending of many British river-names, as the Conway, the Medway, the Muthvey, the Elwy, &c. Hence I take to be the following, in the sense of water or river.

1. _England._ The WEY. Dorset.

The WEY. Surrey.

_Hungary._ The WAAG. Joins the Danube.

_Russia._ The VAGA. Joins the Dwina.

The VAGAI and the VAKH in Siberia.

_India._ The VAYAH. Madras.

2. _With the ending en._ _England._ The WAVENEY. Norf. and Suffolk.

3. _With the ending er._ _England._ The WAVER. c.u.mberland.

4. _With the ending el._ _Netherlands._ VAHALIS, 1st cent. B.C. The WAAL.

5. _With the ending es = Sansc. vahas?_ _France._ VOGESUS ant. The VOSGES.

An allied form to the above is found in Sansc. _vi_, _vic_, to move, Lat. _via_, &c., and to which I put the following.

1. _England._ The WYE. Monmouths.h.i.+re.

_Scotland._ The WICK. Caithness.

_France._ The VIE. Two rivers.

_Russia._ The VIG. Forms lake VIGO.

2. _With the ending en._ _France._ VIGENNA ant. The VIENNE.

_Germany._ The WIEN, which gives the name to Vienna, (Germ.

Wien).

3. _With the ending er._ _Switzerland._ The WIGGER. Cant. Lucerne.

_France._ The VEGRE. Dep. Sarthe.

The VIAUR--probably here.

_Poland._ The WEGIER(KA).

_India._ The VEGIAUR, Madras--here?

Formed on the root _vi_, to move, is probably also the Sansc. _vip_ or _vaip_, to move, to agitate, Latin _vibrare_, perhaps _vivere_, Old Norse _vippa_, _vipra_, gyrare, Eng. _viper_, &c. I cannot trace in the following the sense of rapidity, which we might suspect from the root.

Nor yet with sufficient distinctness the sense of tortuousness, so strongly brought out in some of its derivatives.

1. _With the ending er._ _England._ The WEAVER. Ches.h.i.+re.

The VEVER. Devons.h.i.+re.

_Germany._ WIPPERA, 10th cent. The WIPPER (two rivers), and the WUPPER.

2. _With the ending es._ _India._ VIPASA, the Sanscrit name of the Beas.

_Switzerland._ VIBSICUS ant. (properly Vibissus?) The VEVEYSE by Vevay.

From the root _vip_, to move, taking the prefix _s_, is formed _swip_, which I have dealt with in the next chapter.

In the Sansc. _par_, to move, we find the root of Gael. _beathra_ (p.r.o.nounced _beara_), Old Celt. _ber_, water, Pers. _baran_, rain, &c., to which I place the following.

1. _England._ The BERE. Dorset.

_Ireland._ BARGUS (Ptolemy). The BARROW.

_France._ The BAR. Dep. Ardennes.

The BERRE. Dep. Aude.

_Germany._ The BAHR, the BEHR, the BEHRE, the PAAR.

2. _With the ending en._ _Bohemia._ The BERAUN near Prague.

_India._ The BEHRUN.