The River-Names of Europe

by Robert Ferguson

1.	Scotland.	The Tarf, several small rivers—here?
	Germany.	Dravus, 1st cent. The Drave, Germ. Drau.
	Italy.	The Trebbia. Joins the Po.
2.	With the ending en.
	Germany.	Travena, 10th cent., now the Trave.
		Trewina, 9th cent. The Dran.
		Drona, 9th cent. The Drone.
		Truna, 7th cent. The Traun.
	France.	The Dronne. Joins the Isle.

In the Sansc. dram, to move, to run, Gr. δρέμω, whence dromedary, &c., is to be found the root of the following. But dram, as I take it, is an interchanged form with the preceding drav, as amon = avon, &c., ante.

1.	Scotland.	The Trome and the Truim. Inverness.
	France.	The Drome and the Darme.
	Belgium.	The Durme.
	Germany.	The Darm, by Darmstadt.
2.	With the ending en.
	Norway.	The Drammen. Christiania Fjord.

Another word of the same meaning as the last, and perhaps allied in its root, is Sansc. trag, to run, Gr. τρέχω, Goth. thragjan. It will be observed that the above Greek verb mixes up in its tenses with the obsolete verb δρέμω of the preceding group. In all these words signifying to run there may be something of rapidity, though I am not able to remove them out of this category.

1.	France.	The Drac. Joins the Isère.
	Prussia.	The Drage.
	Greece.	Tragus ant.
	Italy.	The Treja. Joins the Tiber.
2.	With the ending en.
	Sicily.	The Trachino. Joins the Simeto.

The Sansc. il, to move, Gr. ἑίλω, Old High Germ. ilen, Swed. ila, Mod. Germ. eilen, to hasten, Fr. aller, &c., is a very widely spread root in river-names.

1.	England.	The Ile. Somerset.
		The Allow. Northumberland.
	France.	The Ill, the Ille, and the Ellé.
	Germany.	Illa, 9th cent. The Ill.
		Il(aha), 11th cent. The Il(ach).
		The Alle. Prussia.
	Italy.	Allia ant., near Rome.
2.	With the ending en.
	England.	Alaunus (Ptolemy). Perhaps the Axe.
		The Alne, two rivers.
		The Ellen. Cumberland.
	Scotland.	The Allan, two rivers.
	Ireland.	The Ilen. Cork.
	France.	The Aulne. Dep. Finistère.
3.	With the ending er.
	Germany.	Alara, 8th cent. The Aller.
		Ilara, 10th cent. The Iller.
	Piedmont.	The Ellero.

From the above root al or il, to move, to go, I take to be the Gael. ald or alt, a stream, (an older form of which, according to Armstrong, is aled); and the Old Norse allda, Finnish aalto, a wave, billow. As an ending this word is found in the Nagold of Germany (ant. Nagalta), and in the Herault of France, Dep. Herault. Förstemann makes the former word nagalt, and remarks on it as "unexplained." It seems to me to be a compound word, of which the former part is probably to be found in the root nig or nî, p. [47].

1.	England.	The Alde. Suffolk.
		The Alt. Lancashire.
	France.	Oltis ant., now the Lot.
	Germany.	The Eld. Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
	Spain.	The Elda.
	Russia.	The Alta. Gov. Poltova.
2.	With the ending en.
	Germany.	Aldena, 11th cent., now the Olle.
	Norway.	The Alten.
	Siberia.	The Aldan. Joins the Lena.

Also from the root al or il, to move, I take to be the Old Norse elfa, Dan. elv, Swed. elf, a river. The river Ἄλπις mentioned in Herodotus is supposed by Mannert to be the Inn by Innsbrück. I think the able Editor of Smith's Ancient Geography has scarcely sufficient ground for his supposition that Herodotus, in quoting the Alpis and Carpis as rivers, confounded them with the names of mountains. The former, it will be seen, is an appellative for a river; the latter is found in the name Carpino, of an affluent of the Tiber, and might be from the Celt. garbh, violent; a High Germ. element, for instance, would make garbh into carp. But indeed the form carp is that which comes nearest to the original root, if I am correct in supposing it to be the Sansc. karp, Lat. carpo, in the sense of violent action. In the following list I should be inclined to take the names Alapa, Elaver, and Ilavla, as nearest to the original form.