From the Sanscrit root su, liquere, come Sansc. sava, water, Old High German sou, Lat. succus, moisture, Gael. sûgh, a wave, &c.; (on the apparent resemblance between Sansc. sava, water and Goth. saivs, sea, Diefenbach observes, we must not build). Hence I take to be the following; but a word very liable to intermix is Gael. sogh, tranquil; and where the character of stillness is very marked, I have taken them under that head.
| 1. | England. | The Sow. Warwickshire. |
| Ireland. | The Suck. Joins the Shannon. | |
| France. | The Save. Joins the Garonne. | |
| Belgium. | Sabis, 1st cent. B.C., now the Sambre. | |
| Germany. | Savus ant. The Save or Sau. | |
| The Söve. Joins the Elbe. | ||
| Russia. | The Seva. | |
| Italy. | The Savio. Pont. States. | |
| The Sieve. Joins the Arno. | ||
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Italy. | The Savena or Saona. Piedmont. | |
| Armenia. | The Sevan. Lake. | |
| 3. | With the ending er. | |
| Ireland. | Severus ant. The Suire. | |
| Germany. | Sevira, 9th cent. The Zeyer. | |
| France. | The Sevre. Two rivers. | |
| Spain. | Sucro ant. The Xucar. | |
| Portugal. | The Sabor. | |
| 4. | With the ending rn (see note p. [34]). | |
| England. | Sabrina ant. The Severn. | |
| France. | The Sevron. Dep. Saône-et-Loire. | |
| Russ. Pol. | The Savran(ka). Gov. Podolia. | |
| 5. | With the ending es. | |
| Lombardy. | The Savezo near Milano. | |
In the Sanscrit mih, to flow, to pour, Old Norse mîga, scaturire, Anglo-Saxon migan, mihan, to water, Sansc. maighas, rain, Old Norse mîgandi, a torrent—("unde," says Haldorsen, "nomina propria multorum torrentium"), Obs. Gael. and Ir. machd, a wave, I find the root of the following. Most of the names are no doubt from the Celtic, though the traces of the root are more faint in that tongue than in the Teutonic. This I take to be the word, which in the forms ma, and man or men, forms the ending of several river-names.
| 1. | Scotland. | The May. Perthshire. |
| Ireland. | The Maig and the Moy. | |
| Wales. | The May and the Maw. | |
| France. | The May. | |
| Siberia. | The Maia. Joins the Aldon. | |
| India. | The Mhye. Bombay. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| England. | The Mawn. Notts. | |
| The Meon. Hants. (Meôn eâ, Cod. Dip.) | ||
| Ireland. | The Main and the Moyne. | |
| France. | The Maine. Two rivers. | |
| Belgium. | The Mehaigne. Joins the Scheldt. | |
| 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. Shropshire. | |
| Denmark. | The Miele. Falls into the German Ocean. | |
| 5. | With the ending st.[24] | |
| Asia Minor. | The Macestus. Joins the Rhyndacus. | |
From the root mî, to flow, come also Sansc. mîras, Lat. mare, Goth. marei, Ang.-Sax. mêr, 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. mærj, to wash, to water, Lat. mergo, &c. Also, the Celtic murg, in the more definite sense of a morass, may come in for some of the forms.
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.