Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 7.djvu/444

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vn. MAY n, 1007.

water-place, is comparable with English Eyton, Eaton, Eton, or water town. In the same manner in the names Sena and Suir we have the loss of the guttural ; while in Sombre and Sabrina it has apparently passed into a labial. As to the force of the r in such names as these and that of the Humber, it may denote plurality or fullness ; while in other cases, as do-bur, it may be for original s, the sign of the nominative case. The recurring river-name Stour seems to be from a previous Sour, passing into Stour, t being euphonic ; or, less probably, the st may be a modification of the d in Welsh dour or dwr. As another name from the same root, we may also perhaps mention the Swale in Yorkshire, standing for Swigef. Nor must we omit to note that the English word sea may be from this same root svac, and therefore allied to Esk, Sowe, &c., and I think also to the Greek ok-eanos.

Lastly, the recurring river-name Avon (Abona of the Romans) seems to belong to this root, being from the form acv above mentioned, yielding ap by the labialization of the e. Cf. Greek hippos and Latin equus. It is in fact the same word as Latin aqua, Norse oeg, Sanskrit apa, whence Penjaub, the region of the five rivers.

Now the question here arises and I put it with some diffidence Are the two roots vat and vac distinct from each other, or really only different forms of the same root ? I am disposed to think that the latter is thf case, the change implied of a dental for a guttural being not of infrequent occurrence, as may be seen by comparing Welsh brattiau with English breeks, W. ffrwd with English brook. But if they are the same, how are we to account for the coexistence in the same language of words derived from either form, as, for example, Norse vand and oeg, of the same meaning ? The answer is, By the fusion of two peoples, one using the one form of the word, and the other the other form. For instance, if in Norway there were first a people who used the form seen in oeg, and these were afterwards mixed with a people who used that seen in vand, we might thus account for the phenomenon that is, by overlapping.

The original form of the root for water '< was (s)vact, which was assimilated in some j cases to vace, and in others to vatt. As Latin septem is Gaelic secht, so L. Neptunus is G. Nechtan, the former part of which is seen in Norse Nidd, in the name Ken-Neth (son of Neth or Nidd), and probably in that of Macbeth. This seems to prove the identity of vac and vat. Another corro-

borative instance is, I think, Vectis (Isle of Wight), which meant, therefore, island. The meaning of the root vact was almost cer- tainly either smooth or soluble, the opposite of solid.

What is put forward above is that Gaelic uisge, Welsh dwr, and Latin aqua are derived from the same primitive root svac, the s representing the breathing, which in some cases eventually disappeared, as in aqua, oeg ; and again, that it is not impro- bable that this root is a variety of that seen in Teutonic water and Greek hudor. It seems not improbable for the reason that it is not likely that the ordinary word for water should be different in such nearly allied languages as, for instance, Greek and Latin. But if here I have gone astray, I still regard it as almost certain, from the proximity to each other of Celts and Latins, that Celtic uisge and Latin aqua are the same word. For what is the alternative to this ? That the Celtic settlers in Britain adopted the word from their non- Aryan predecessors, which is not likely. It seems, therefore, that the word uisge is Aryan, and not an Iberian or other non- Aryan word.

J. PARRY.

For twenty-one years I have believed that there is an element common to Keltic and to Baskish. Certain problems ought to be worked out on the hypothesis that the belief may be not unfounded. MR. PARRY may know, or be glad to learn, that the Basks turned Latin vena into mena, in the sense of mine, or vein of metal (and have shortened it into mea) in support of his assertion that " original v passes frequently into w." This is because the Basks turn v into b. They also say emon in the west of Baskland, and man in the east, hereby again confirming his phonetic observations.

E. S. DODGSON.

CHERTSEY MONUMENTAL

INSCRIPTIONS. (See ante, pp. 43, 203.)

15. Near this Spot lies inter'd | the Body of the late | Mrs. Ann Rowe | who departed this life Nov* 18th, 1783 | Aged 65 years | Also Mrs. Mary Gordon | who departed this life June 1st, 1781 f Aged 81 years. 1 Being both the Daughters of | Capt. Thomas Goddard | of the Army | late of Swindon in Wiltshire, this | Tablet is erected by the desire of | Samuel Goddard, Esq r | of the Royal Navy, their Nephew.

16. [On a brass :] Miss Susannah Meere, late of Chertsey, died 22 July, 1882 | Having by her will bequeathed to the Church war dens in trust for the Poor | The proceeds of her personal estate, which