The form silv I take to be an extension of sil, similar to others previously noticed.
| 1. | Russia. | The Silva. Gov. Perm. |
| 2. | With the ending er. | |
| England. | The Silver. Devon. | |
The Simois in the Plain of Troy I have suggestively placed at p. [119] to Gael. saimh, slow, tranquil. But, taking the epithet lubricus applied to it by Horace, we might perhaps seek a stronger sense from the same root, as found in Welsh seimio, to grease, saim, tallow.
The water of the Liparis in Cilicia, according to Polyclitus, as quoted by Pliny, was of such an unctuous quality that it was used in place of oil. Probably only for the purpose of anointing the person, to which extent the story is confirmed by Vitruvius. Hence no doubt its name, from Sansc. lip, to be greasy, Gr. λιπαρος, unctuous.
Grimm (Gesch. d. Deutsch. Sprach.) suggests a similar origin for the Ister, p. [117], referring it to Old Norse istra, Dan. ister, fat, grease, Gr. στέαρ. He puts it, however, in a metaphorical sense, as "the fattening, fructifying river." With deference, however, to so high an authority, this explanation seems to me rather doubtful. For the ending ster, as I have elsewhere observed, is common to many river-names, and I have taken it to be, like the Arm. ster, formed by a phonetic t, from the Sansc. sri, to flow.
Also, from the root of the Sansc. sri, to flow, I take to be Gael. sruam, and again taking the phonetic t, the word stream, strom, common to all the Teutonic dialects. In these two forms we find the ancient names of two rivers—the Syrmus of Thrace, and the Strymon or Strumon, the present Struma, of Macedonia.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] The derivation at p. [120] I must retract, finding beg as a termination of other Irish river-names.
[68] Wiegand, (Oberhessische ortsnamen), refers this name to Old High Germ. braht, fremitus.