The River-Names of Europe

by Robert Ferguson

1.	England.	The Fleet. Joins the Trent.
		The Fleet, now called the Fleetditch in London.
	Scotland.	The Fleet. Kirkcudbright.
	Germany.	Bleisa, 10th cent. The Pleisse.
	Holland.	Flieta, 9th cent. The Vliet.
	Russia.	The Pliusa. Gulf of Finland.
2.	With the ending en.
	Germany.	Fliedina, 8th cent. The Flieden.
		The Flietn(itz). Pruss. Pom.
3.	With the ending st.
	Holland.	The Vliest.
	Greece.	Pleistus ant., near Delphi.

There are two more forms from the same root, the former of which we may refer to the Irish and Gael. fluisg, a flushing or flowing. The latter shows a form nearest to the Ang.-Sax. and Old High Germ. flum, Lat. flumen, though I think that the names must be rather Celtic.

1.	Ireland.	The Flisk. Falls into the Lake of Killarney.
	Germany.	The Pleiske. Joins the Oder.
2.	England.	The Plym, by Plymouth.
	Scotland.	The Palme, by Palmton.
	Siberia.	The Pelym. Gov. Tobolsk.

From the Sansc. gam, to go, is derived, according to Bopp and Monier Williams, the name of the Ganges, in Sanscrit Gangâ. The word is in fact the same as the Scotch "gang," which seems to be derived more immediately from the Old Norse ganga. In the sense of "that which goes," the Hindostanee has formed gung, a river, found in the names of the Ramgunga, the Kishengunga, the Chittagong, and other rivers of India. The same ending is found by Förstemann in the old names of one or two German rivers, as the Leo near Salzburg, which in the 10th cent. was called the Liuganga. Another name for the Ganges is the Pada, for which Hindoo ingenuity has sought an origin in the myth of its rising from the foot of Vishnoo. But as pad and gam in Sanscrit have both the same meaning, viz., to go, I am inclined to suggest that the two names Ganga and Pada may simply be synonymes of each other.

1.	India.	The Ganges. Sanscrit Ganga.
		The Gingy. Pondicherry.
	Russia.	The Khank(ova). Joins the Don.
2.	With the ending et.
	Greece.	Gangitus ant., in Macedonia.

The Sansc. verb gam, to go, along with its allied forms, is formed on a simpler verb gâ, of the same meaning. To this I put the following.

1.	Holland.	The Gouw. Joins the Yssel.
	Persia.	Choes or Cho(aspes)[26] ant.
2.	With the ending en.
	Germany.	Gewin(aha), 9th cent., now the Jahn(bach).
3.	Compounded with ster, river.
	Asia Minor.	The Cayster and Cestrus—here?

The Sansc. ikh, to move, must, I think, contain the root of the following, though I find no derivatives in any sense nearer to that of water or river.

1.	Russia.	The Ik. Two rivers.
2.	With the ending en.
	England.	Icena (Cod. Dip.) The Itchen.
	France.	Icauna ant. The Ionne.
3.	With the ending el.
	Moravia.	The Igla or Igl(awa).
	France.	The Ecolle. Dep. Seine-et-Oise.

From the Sansc. dravas, flowing, are derived, according to Bopp, the Drave and the Trave. The root-verb is, I presume, drâ, to move. Hence I have suggested, p. [37], may be the Welsh dwr, water.