FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ilchester (=Ivel-chester) situated on this river, is called in Ptolemy Ischalis, from which we may presume that the river was called the Ischal, a word which would be a synonyme of Ivel.
[2] It seems rather probable that the ending es in these names is not a mere suffix. The Apsarus, ancient name of the Tchoruk in Armenia, and the Ipsala in Europ. Turkey, by superadding the endings er and el, go to show this. We might perhaps presume a Sansc. word abhas, or aphas, with the meaning of river.
[3] This ending is not explained. Zeuss, comparing the endings er and st, suggests a comparative and superlative, which is not probable. In the present, as in some other cases, I take it to be only a phonetic form of ss, and make Ambastus properly Ambassus. But in some other cases, as that of the Nestus, which compares with Sansc. nisitas, fluid, it seems to be formative.
[4] This looks like a mistake for Acasse.
[5] So that there is a river in Monmouth, and another in Macedon.
[6] "Hysa nunc fluvii nomen est, qui antiquitus Hysara dicebatur." (Folcuin. Gest. Abb. Lobiens.) This seems not improbably to refer to the Oise.
[7] If, as Pott suggests, the Vedra of Ptolemy = Eng. water, the Wetter would naturally come in here also. But some German writers, as Roth and Weigand, connect it with Germ. wetter, Eng. weather, in the sense, according to the first-named, of the river which is affected by rain.
[8] This ending may either be formed by the addition of a phonetic n to the ending er; or it may be from a word ren, channel, river, hereafter noticed.
[9] The Scotch Ettrick and the Germ. Eitrach I take to be synonymous, though the ending in one case is German, and in the other probably Gaelic. (See p. [25])
[10] Hence perhaps Anitabha (abha, water), the Sansc. name of a river, not identified, in India.
[11] Tacitus gives this name to the Avon—in mistake, as the Editor of Smith's Ancient Geography suggests. But anton and avon seem to have been synonymous words for a river.
[12] Hence the name of Dover, anc. Dubris, according to Richard of Cirencester, from the small stream which there falls into the sea.
[13] Where is this river, cited by Zeuss, (Gramm. Celt.)?
[14] Hence probably the name of Zurich, ant. Turicum.
[15] Perhaps formed from ez by a phonetic n.
[16] I do not in this case make any account of the spelling; the name is just the same as our Lee, and the idea of lys, a lily, is no doubt only suggested by the similarity of sound.
[17] Manual of Comparative Philology.
[18] Niebuhr derives this name from a Sabine word signifying sulphur, which is largely contained in its waters. Mr. Charnock suggests the Phœn. naharo, a river.
[19] Niemen may perhaps = Nieven—m for v, as in Amon for Avon, p. [26].
[20] Perhaps to be found in Sansc. nistas, wet, fluid. Here we get something of a clue to Eng. "nasty," the original meaning of which has no doubt been nothing but water "in the wrong place."
[21] "One of the sacred rivers of India, a river mentioned in the Veda, and famous in the epic poems as the river of Ayodhyâ, one of the earliest capitals of India, the modern Oude."—Max Müller, Science of Language.
[22] I place this here on the authority of Max Müller, who, pointing out that the initial h in Persian corresponds with a Sanscrit s, thinks that the river Sarayu may have given the name to the river Arius or Heri, and to the country of Herat.
[23] This name seems formed at thrice—first Sarit—then ov, (perhaps av river)—lastly, the Slavish affix ka.
[25] In the more special sense of lake, which, it will be observed, is frequent in this group, is the Suio-Lapp. pluewe.
[26] The word asp comes before us in some other river-names, but respecting its etymology I am quite in the dark. From the way in which it occurs in the above, in the Zari(aspis), and in the Hyd(aspes), it seems rather likely to have the meaning of water or river.
[27] Also Allison and Ellison, which may be either patronymic forms in son; or formed with the ending in en, like the above river-names. For the names of rivers, and the ancient names of men, in many points run parallel to each other.
[28] Following strictly the above Celt. word uaran, this might be "Fresh-water Bay."
[29] The Araxes of Herodotus, observes the Editor of Smith's Ancient Geography, "cannot be identified with any single river: the name was probably an appellative for a river, and was applied, like our Avon, to several streams, which Herodotus supposed to be identical." Araxes I take to be a Græcism, and the Mod. name Aras to show the proper form.
[30] Containing the Latin amnis, river, or only a euphonic form of Clitunnus? See Garumna, p. [13].
[31] I think that in this, as probably in some other cases, st is only a phonetic form of ss, and that the Mod. name Aiss points truly to the ancient form as Agass, see note, p. [29].
[32] I should without hesitation have taken the Pinka, as well as the Russian Pinega, to be from this root, with the Slavonic affix ga or ka. But the English river Penk in Staffordshire introduces an element of doubt. It may, however, also be from this root, with the ending ick common in the rivers of Scotland. See p. [25].
[33] This river seems also to have been called anciently Chochara.
[34] Here also, as in the case of the German Chuchilibach, and the Cocbrôc before noted, the ending beck (= brook), seems to have been added to the original name. Chuchilibach appears as the name of a place, but I apprehend that the word implies a stream of the same name.
[35] I think that these quantities, so far as they are derived from the Latin poets, should be accepted with some reserve. Unless more self-denying than most of their craft, I fear that they would hardly let a Gallic river stand in the way of a lively dactyl.
[36] I do not know any other instance of this ending in river-names, but I take it to be, like man or main, an extension of may, and to signify water or river.