I think, upon the whole, that the general meaning of the root lam, lem, lim, is smoothness. Though the root-meaning seems rather that of clamminess or adhesiveness, as found in Sansc. limpas, Gr. λιπος, Lat. limus, Old Sax. lêmo, Mod. Germ. lehm, Eng. lime, &c.[54] In the Gr. λιμνη, lake, the sense becomes that of smooth or standing water: this, as I take it, is in effect the word found in the Lake Leman, Loch Lomond, &c. Though the word most immediately concerned is the Gaelic liobh, liomh, Welsh llyfnu, to smooth; and the Loch Lomond, (properly Lomon), was also formerly called, as the river which issues from it is still, Leven, being just another form of the same word—v and m interchanging as elsewhere noticed. Hence the Welsh llifo, to pour, p. [46], might be apt to intermix in the following. The Lat. lambo, the primitive meaning of which is to lick, is applied to the gentle washing of a river against its banks—"Quæ loca lambit Hydaspes,"—Horace. Dugdale observes that "at this day divers of those artificial rivers in Cambridgeshire, anciently cut to drain the fens, bear the name of Leam, being all muddy channels through which the water hath a dull or slow passage." In the following names the sense may be sometimes then that of muddiness, though in general, as I take it, that of sluggishness.

1.England.The Leam by Leamington.
The Lyme. Dorsetshire.
Germany.Lamma, 11th cent. The Lamme.
Laim(aha), 8th cent. Not identified.
Lemphia, 8th cent. The Lempe.
Russia.The Lama. Joins the Volga.
The Lam(ov). Gov. Penza.
Italy.The Lima. Joins the Serchio.
Spain.Limæa ant., now the Lima.
Asia Minor.Lamus ant., in Cilicia.
2.With the ending en.
England.The Leman. Devonshire.
The Limen in Kent. (Limeneâ Cod. Dip.)
Scotland.Loch Lomond, formerly also called Leven.
Switzerland.Lake Leman, or the Lake of Geneva, (ant. Lemannus.)
Italy.The Lamone in Tuscany.
3.With the ending er.
Germany.Lamer, 11th cent. The Lammer.
Italy.The Lambro.
Asia Minor.Limyrus ant., in Lycia.
4.With the ending et.
Switzerland.The Limmat. Cant. Zurich.

From the above form lam, lem, lim, I take to be formed by metathesis alm, elm, ilm. And the lake Ilmen in Russia I take to be in effect the same word as the lake Leman in Switzerland. In the name of another lake in Russia, the Karduanskoi-ilmen, it seems to occur as an appellative. A certain amount of doubt is imported by the coincidence of two names in which we find a sacred character—the river Almo, which was sacred to Cybele, and a sacred fountain Olmius mentioned in Hesiod. The coincidence, however, may be only accidental.

1.England.The Alme. Devonshire.
The Helme. Sussex.
Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight?
Germany.Ilma, 8th cent. The Ilm, two rivers.
The Helme in Prussia.
Holland.The Alm in Brabant.
Norway.The Alma.
Spain.The Alhama. Prov. Navarra.
Italy.The Almo near Rome.
Russia.The Alma in the Crimea.
Siberia.The Illim.
Greece.Olmeius ant. Bœotia.
2.With the ending en.
Germany.The Ilmen(au). Joins the Elbe.
Russia.Ilmen. Lake.
3.With the ending el.
Holland.The Almelo. Prov. Overijssel.

Perhaps from the Gael. foil, slow, gentle, we may get the following.

1.England.The Fal by Falmouth.
Ireland.The Foil(agh). Cork.
The Feale. Munster.
2.With the ending en.
Scotland.The Fillan. Perthshire.
3.With the ending es.
Germany.Filisa, 8th cent. The Fils and the Vils.

In the third division of this chapter I put the names in which the sense of spreading seems to be found. This sense may have three different acceptations—first, that, generally, of a wide river—secondly, that of a river relatively broad and shallow—thirdly, that of a river forming an estuary at its mouth.

I bring in here the Padus or Po, which, by Metrodorus Scepsius, a Greek author quoted by Pliny, has been derived from the pine-trees, "called in the Gallic tongue padi," of which there were a number about its source. A derivation like this jars with common sense, for it is unreasonable to suppose that the Gauls, coming upon this fine river, gave it no name until they had tracked it up to its source, and there made the not very notable discovery that it was surrounded by pine-trees. Much more probable is it that they came first upon its mouth, and much more striking would be the appearance that would be presented to them. For, as Niebuhr observes, "the basin of the Po, and of the rivers emptying themselves into it was originally a vast bay of the sea," which by gradual embanking was confined within its present channels. As then the mouth of the Padus was a vast estuary, so in the Gael. badh, a bay or estuary, I find the explanation of the name. The root, I apprehend, is Sansc. pat, Lat. pateo, pando, &c., to spread, and hence, I take it, the name Bander, of several small bays on the S.W. coast of Asia, of Bantry Bay in Ireland, and of Boderia, the name given by Ptolemy to the Firth of Forth.

1.Italy.Padus ant. The Po.
Germany.Bada, 9th cent., now the Bode.
2.With the ending en.
Ireland.The Bandon. Co. Cork. (Forms a considerable estuary).
Italy.Pantanus ant., now the Lake of Lesina, a salt lagoon on the Adriatic.
3.With the ending er.
Germany.Patra, 9th cent., now the Pader.
4.With the ending es.
Hungary.Pathissus ant., now the Temes.[55]

In the Sansc. parth, to spread or extend, we may perhaps find the origin of the following. Can the name of the Parthians be hence derived, in reference to their well-known mode of fighting?