| 1. | England. | The Nidd. Yorkshire. |
| Scotland. | The Nith. Dumfriesshire. | |
| Wales. | The Neath. Glamorgan. | |
| France. | The Nied. Joins the Sarre. | |
| Belgium. | The Nethe. Joins the Ruppel. | |
| Germany. | Nida, 8th cent., now the Nidda. | |
| The Nethe. Joins the Weser. | ||
| Norway. | The Nida. | |
| Poland. | The Nidda. | |
| Greece. | Neda ant., now the Buzi in Elis. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Scotland. | The Nethan. Lesmahago. | |
| 3. | With the ending rn (see note p. [34]). | |
| Germany. | Nitorne, 9th cent., now the Nidder. | |
There can hardly be a doubt that the words sar, sor, sur, so widely spread in the names of rivers, are to be traced to the Sansc. sar, sri, to move, to go, sru, to flow, whence saras, water, sarit, srôta, river. The Permic and two kindred dialects of the Finnic class have the simple form sor or sur, a river, and the Gaelic and Irish have the derived form sruth, to flow, sroth, sruth, river. In the names Sorg, Sark, Sarco, I rather take the guttural to have accrued.
| 1. | England. | The Soar. Leicester. |
| The Sark, forms the boundary between England and Scotland. | ||
| France. | The Serre. Joins the Oise. | |
| Germany. | Saravus ant., now the Saar. | |
| Soraha, 8th cent., a small stream seemingly now unnamed. | ||
| Sura, 7th cent. The Sure and the Sur. | ||
| The Sorg. Prussia. | ||
| Switzerland. | The Sare and the Sur. | |
| Norway. | The Sura. | |
| Russia. | The Sura. Joins the Volga. | |
| The Svir, falls into Lake Ladoga. | ||
| Lombardy. | The Serio. Joins the Adda. | |
| The Serchio or Sarco. | ||
| Portugal. | The Sora. Joins the Tagus. | |
| Asia. | Serus ant., now the Meinam. | |
| Asia Minor. | Sarus ant., now the Sihon. | |
| India. | Sarayu[21] ant., now the Sardju. | |
| Armenia. | Arius[22] ant., now the Heri Rud. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| France. | The Seran. Joins the Rhone. | |
| The Serain. Joins the Yonne. | ||
| Germany. | Sorna, 8th cent. The Zorn. | |
| Switzerland. | The Suren. Cant. Aargau. | |
| Naples. | Sarnus ant. The Sarno. | |
| Persia. | Sarnius ant., now the Atrek. | |
The form saras, water, seems to be found in the following two names.
| 1. | With the ending en. | |
| France. | The Sarsonne. Dep. Corrèze. | |
| 2. | Compounded with wati = Goth. wato, water. | |
| India. | The Saraswati, which still retains its ancient name. | |
And the Sansc. sarit, Gael. and Ir. sroth, sruth, a river, seem to be found in the following.
| Ireland. | The Swords river near Dublin. |
| France. | The Sarthe. Joins the Mayenne. |
| Galicia. | The Sered. Joins the Dniester. |
| Moldavia. | The Sereth. Ant. Ararus. |
| Russia. | The Sarat(ovka).[23] Gov. Saratov. |
It would seem that the foregoing forms sri, sru, srot, sometimes take a phonetic t, and become stri, stru, strot. Thus one Celtic dialect, the Armorican, changes sur into ster, and another, the Cornish, changes sruth into struth—both words signifying a river. But indeed the natural tendency towards it is too obvious to require much comment. Hence we may take the names Stry and Streu. But is the form Stur from this source also? Förstemann finds an etymon in Old High German stur, Old Norse stôr, great. This may obtain in the case of some of the rivers of Scandinavia, but is hardly suited for those of England and Italy, none of which are large. The root, moreover, seems too widely spread, if, as I suspect, it is this which forms the ending of many ancient names as the Cayster, the Cestrus, the Alster, Elster, Ister, Danastris, &c. The Armorican ster, a river, seems to be the word most nearly concerned.