[20] Perhaps to be found in Sansc. nistas, wet, fluid. Here we get something of a clue to Eng. "nasty," the original meaning of which has no doubt been nothing but water "in the wrong place."
[21] "One of the sacred rivers of India, a river mentioned in the Veda, and famous in the epic poems as the river of Ayodhyâ, one of the earliest capitals of India, the modern Oude."—Max Müller, Science of Language.
[22] I place this here on the authority of Max Müller, who, pointing out that the initial h in Persian corresponds with a Sanscrit s, thinks that the river Sarayu may have given the name to the river Arius or Heri, and to the country of Herat.
[23] This name seems formed at thrice—first Sarit—then ov, (perhaps av river)—lastly, the Slavish affix ka.
[25] In the more special sense of lake, which, it will be observed, is frequent in this group, is the Suio-Lapp. pluewe.
[26] The word asp comes before us in some other river-names, but respecting its etymology I am quite in the dark. From the way in which it occurs in the above, in the Zari(aspis), and in the Hyd(aspes), it seems rather likely to have the meaning of water or river.
[27] Also Allison and Ellison, which may be either patronymic forms in son; or formed with the ending in en, like the above river-names. For the names of rivers, and the ancient names of men, in many points run parallel to each other.
[28] Following strictly the above Celt. word uaran, this might be "Fresh-water Bay."
[29] The Araxes of Herodotus, observes the Editor of Smith's Ancient Geography, "cannot be identified with any single river: the name was probably an appellative for a river, and was applied, like our Avon, to several streams, which Herodotus supposed to be identical." Araxes I take to be a Græcism, and the Mod. name Aras to show the proper form.