Förstemann seems to me to be right in his conjecture that the forms alis, els, ils, are also extensions of the root al, el, il. We see the same form in Gr. ἑλισσω, an extension of ἑιλω, and having just the same meaning of verso, volvo. Indeed I think that this word, which we find specially applied to rivers, is the one most concerned in the following names, two of which, it will be seen moreover, belong to Greece. Hence may perhaps be derived the name of the Elysii, (wanderers?) a German tribe mentioned in Tacitus. And through them, of many names of men, as the Saxon Alusa and Elesa, down to our own family names Alice and Ellice.[27]
| 1. | France. | The Alise. |
| Germany. | Elza, 10th cent., now the Elz. | |
| Ilsa ant., now the Ilse. | ||
| The Alass. Falls into the Gulf of Riga. | ||
| Greece. | Ilissus ant., still retains its name. | |
| Asia Minor. | Halys ant., now the Kizil-Irmak. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Germany. | Elison, 3rd cent., now the Lise. | |
| Belgium. | Alisna, 7th cent., not identified. | |
| Greece. | Ellison or Helisson ant. | |
| 3. | With the ending es. | |
| Germany. | Alzissa, 9th cent., now the Alz. | |
| Ilzisa, 11th cent., now the Ilz. | ||
The root sal Förstemann takes to be Celtic, and to mean salt water. No doubt saltness is a characteristic which would naturally give a name to a river. So it does in the case of the "Salt River" in the U.S., and of the Salza in the Salzkammergut. But I can hardly think that all the many rivers called the Saale are salt, and I am inclined to go deeper for the meaning. The Sansc. has sal, to move, whence salan, water. The first meaning then seems to be water—applied to the sea as the water—and then to salt as derived from the sea. So that when the Gr. άλς, the Old Norse salt, and the Gael. sal, all mean both salt, and also the sea, the latter may be the original sense. From the above root, sal, to move, the Lat. forms both salire and saltare, as from the same root come sal and salt. I take the root sal then in river-names to mean, at least in some cases, water. In one or two instances the sense of saltness comes before us as a known quality, and in such case I have taken the names elsewhere. But failing the proper proof, which would be that of tasting, I must leave the others where they stand.
It is possible that the root als, ils, found in the name of several rivers, as the Alz, Elz, Ilse, may be a transposition of the above, just as Gr. άλς = Lat. sal. But upon the whole I have thought another derivation better, and have included them in a preceding group.
From the Sansc. var or vars, to bedew, moisten, whence var, water, varsas, rain, Gr. ἐρση, dew, Gael. and Ir. uaran, fresh water, I get the following, dividing them into the two forms, var and vars.
| The form var. | ||
| 1. | England. | The Ver. Herts. |
| France. | Viria ant. The Vire. | |
| Germany. | The Werre in Thuringia. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Germany. | Warinna, 8th cent. The Wern. | |
| The Warn(au). Mecklenburg-Schwerin. | ||
| Naples. | Varano,[28] a lagoon on the Adriatic shore. | |
| The form vars. | ||
| 1. | England. | The Worse. Shropshire. |
| France. | The Ource. Joins the Seine. | |
| Germany. | The Wers. Joins the Ems. | |
| Italy. | Arsia ant.—here? | |
| Varese. Lake in Lombardy. | ||
| Persia. | Arosis ant., now the Tab—here? | |
| Armenia. | Araxes[29] ant., now the Aras—here? | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Germany. | Ursena, 8th cent., now the Oertze. | |
| Asia Minor. | Orsinus ant., now the Hagisik—here? | |
| 3. | With the ending el. | |
| Germany. | Ursela, 8th cent. The Ursel. | |
| Hörsel. Joins the Werre. | ||
In the above Sansc. var, to moisten, to water, is contained, as I take it, the root of the Finnic wirta, a river, the only appellative I can find for the following.