Names of Rivers:Etymology

Sorry! Esmay.

Yes I am intrigued by all place and river names. My nearest river is the Allan Water - Wikipedia says: that the name Allan is of Pre-Celtic Indo-European origin. Its original form was Alauna, from the Indo-European root *el-/ol-, meaning "to flow, to stream". Several European rivers and settlements have names that may come from that root.
Mouth: River Forth

Allan Water - Wikipedia

i noticed how in the land rising to the north of London, so many place names begin with H, eg,
Horsenden Hill, Harrow, Hendon, Hampstead, Highgate, Hornsey, Harringay, Highbury,

Hanwell.
i'm on a roll now.
i once worked out the numbering system for the London postal districts, but could only manage one quadrant completely.
get lost a bit around the others, but keep trying, without looking anything up, as i think it helps mental agility.

It is so beautiful , Namsnanny .
I really miss it !
I think that I miss the simple way of life -lots of farming ,dig walking and riding and no TV .

My daughter lives like that now , but in Yorkshire .

Caleo - could well be the origin of Wye .
Don't mind Esmee !

Dog not dig !

i assumed that was an archaeological reference.

Avon is almost the same as the Gaelic word for water. I can imagine the old peoples were so bound to their own local land they never go anywhere far from their work on the land, and so the local river is simply "the water".

Scots and Irish Gaelic are very alike, and are more distantly related to Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.

Romany is often particularly close to proto-Indo-European. I looked up a chart with translations of common words such as 'water' and 'father' into p-I-E, and a few modern European languages including Romany.

I like the sound of River Oooze!

Joseanne

I like the sound of River Oooze!

It does just that. 😁

It flows sluggishly through the flat lands of East Anglia, but when it rains the river -well oozes- all over the fields, turning the whole area into a giant lake😱

(River)Oose is same sound as the French for 'water'. Eaux.

As a child I played with my friends in Gelt Woods. The name Gelt has two possible origins. One from old Brittonic meaning wild, the other from old norse for gold. We never found any gold there though.

Lots of river names just seem to mean "water". We also have the River Exe near us, which comes from isca, the Roman name for water. From that we also got the River Axe.

What about the River Piddle? 😂

Joseanne wrote:

"Lots of river names just seem to mean "water". We also have the River Exe near us, which comes from isca, the Roman name for water. From that we also got the River Axe."

What a useful bit of info for me! Isca sounds almost the same as the Gaelic for water. It's said that the most important words persist through massive movements of peoples.

MiniMoon, I'd choose 'wild'. I can imagine a time when a mother would warn her child not to play in the wild wood, when wild woods were seriously dangerous.