From the Gael. cobhair, Ir. cubhair, foam, froth, appear to be the following.
| England. | The Cober. Cornwall. |
| The Cover. Yorkshire. | |
| Russia. | The Choper. |
| Asia. | Chaboras ant., now the Khabur—here? |
| India. | Chaberis ant., now the Caveri—here? |
From the Ir. and Obs. Gael. breath, pure, clear, I take to be the following.
| England. | The Bratha. Lake District. |
| Scotland. | The Broth(ock). Forfar. |
| Germany. | The Brett(ach). Joins the Kocher. |
| The Brat(awa) in Bohemia. | |
| Braht(aha),[68] 10th century. The Bracht—here? | |
| Asia Minor. | Practius ant.—here? |
And from the Ir. brag, running water, I follow Mone in taking the following.
| 1. | England. | The Bray. Devon. |
| Ireland. | The Bray. Wicklow. | |
| France. | The Bray. Joins the Loire. | |
| Germany. | The Brege, in the Scharwarzwald. | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| England. | The Braine. Joins the Blackwater. | |
| Ireland. | Breagna, an old name for the Boyne. | |
A root for river-names, to which might be put the following, is found by Förstemann in Old High Germ. rôr, Mod. Germ. rohr, arundo, Eng. rush.
| Germany. | Ror(aha), 11th century, now the Rohrbach. |
| Rura, 8th cent. The Ruhr. | |
| Holland. | The Roer. Joins the Maas. |
The word sil in river-names would seem to have the meaning of still or sluggish water. The Gael. has sil, to drop, rain, drip; and the Arm. has sila, to filter. (The Old Fries. sil, canal, seems hardly a related word; it appears more probably to be connected with Old Norse sîla, to cut, to furrow.) According to Pliny, the Scythian name of the Tanais or Don was Silis; and several other Scythian rivers had the same name, (Grimm, Gesch. d. Deutsch. Sprach.) In this point of view the above derivation might seem too restricted, and we might think of sil, as of sal, (p. [75]), as formed by the prefix s from the root al or il, to go, (p. [71]), in the simple meaning of water. According to Strabo and Pliny the Silaris of Italy had the property of petrifying any plant thrown into it; but as, according to Cluvier, the modern inhabitants of its banks know nothing of any such property, it would rather seem as if the story had been made to fit the supposed connection of the name with silex, flint.
| 1. | Switzerland. | Sil(aha), 11th cent. The Sihl. |
| Italy. | Silis ant., now the Sile. | |
| Scotland. | The Shiel in Argyleshire—here? | |
| Germany. | The Schyl (ant. Tiarantus)—here? | |
| 2. | With the ending en. | |
| Sweden. | Siljan. Lake. | |
| Russia. | The Shelon—here? | |
| 3. | With the ending er. | |
| Naples. | Silaris ant., now the Silaro. | |