| 1. | Wales. | The Fraw, by Aberfraw. |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Scotland. | The Froon. Falls into L. Lomond. | |
| Russia. | The Pronia. | |
The Welsh ffrydio, to stream, to gush, appears to be formed similarly from the preposition fra, joined with the verb eddu, to press on, to go, corresponding with Sansc. it, Latin ito, &c. Hence it would correspond with a Sansc. pra-it, Lat. præ-ito, &c. From the verb comes the appellative ffrwd, a torrent, corresponding with the Bohem. praud, of the same meaning.
| Scotland. | The Forth. Co. Stirling. |
| Danub. Prov. | Porata (Herodotus). The Pruth. |
| Russia. | The Port(va). Gov. Kaluga. |
I also bring in here, as much suggestively as determinately, the following.
| Sansc. pra-pat, Lat. præ-peto, &c., to rush forth. | |
| Russ. Pol. | The Pripet. Joins the Dnieper. |
| Bulgaria. | The Pravadi. Falls into the Black Sea. |
| Sansc. pra-cal, to rush forth, pra and cal, p. [112]. | |
| Prussia. | The Pregel. Enters the Frische-Haff. |
| Sansc. pra-li, Lat. pro-luo, &c., to overflow. | |
| India. | The Purally. |
According to the opinion of Zeuss and Gluck, the Danube, (ant. Danubius and Danuvius, Mod. Germ. Donau,) would come in here. These writers derive it from Gael. dan, Ir. dana, fortis, audax, in reference to its strong and impetuous current. This is no doubt the most striking characteristic of the river, but it might also not inappropriately be placed to the root tan, to extend, whence the names of some other large rivers. Gluck considers the ending vius to be simply derivative, and suggests that the Germans, with a natural striving after a meaning, altered this derivative ending into their word ava, aha, ach, or au, signifying river. Though Gluck is a writer for whose opinion I have great respect, and though this is the principle for which I myself have been all along contending, yet I am rather inclined to think that in Danuvius, as in Conovius (the Conway), there is contained a definite appellative, qualified by a prefixed adjective: this seems to me to be brought out more clearly in the Medway, and in the names connected with it.
The word Ister, which, according to Zeuss, is the Thracian name of the Danube, I have elsewhere referred to the Armorican ster, a river. Not that I mean to infer therefrom that the name is Celtic, because ster is only a particular form of an Indo-European word sur. If we refer the prefix is to the Old Norse isia, proruere, then Ister would have the same meaning as that given above to Danubius. But the derivation of Mone, who explains it by y, the Welsh definite article, and ster, a river, making Ister = "The river," I hold with Gluck to be—like other derivations proceeding on the same principle—opposed to all sound philology.
Among the rivers noted for the slowness of their course, the most conspicuous is the Arar or Saone. Cæsar (de Bell. Gall.) describes it as flowing "with such incredible gentleness that the eye can scarcely judge which way it is going." Seneca adopts it as a type of indecision—"the Arar in doubt which way to flow." Eumenius multiplies his epithets—"segnis et cunctabundus amnis, tardusque." The name Sauconna, Sagonna, Saonna, Saone, does not appear before the 4th cent., yet there does not seem any reason to doubt that it is as old as the other. Zeuss (Die Deutschen) and the Editor of "Smith's Ancient Geography" take this as the true Gallic name. And though Armstrong explains both the Arar and the Saone from the Celtic—referring the former to the Obs. Gael. ar, slow, and the latter to Gael. sogh, tranquil or placid, in which he may probably be correct, yet it by no means follows that the name of the Arar is Celtic, for ar is an ancient root of the Indo-European speech. To the same root as the Saone I also put the Seine (Sequăna), and the Segre (Sicŏris), comparing them with Lat. seg-nis. The former of these rivers is navigable for 350 miles out of 414, and the latter is noted in Lucian as "stagnantem Sicorim." Some other rivers, in which the characteristic is less distinct, I also venture to place here, separating this root as well as I can from another p. [58].
| 1. | Germany. | Siga, 10th cent. The Sieg. |
| Russia. | The Soja. Joins the Dnieper. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| France. | Sauconna ant. The Saône. | |
| Sequana ant. The Seine. | ||
| The Seugne. Dep. Charente-Inf. | ||
| Russia. | The Suchona. Joins the Dwina. | |
| 3. | With the ending er. | |
| Spain. | Sicoris ant. The Segre. | |
| The Segura. Enters the Med. Sea. | ||
Perhaps allied in its root to the last is the Gael. saimh, quiet, tranquil, to which I put the following.