From: tgpedersen
Message: 46536
Date: 2006-11-03
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NurHans Kuhn counts the river Nar as one of the river- and placenames
> > > "*nur is a Proto-Indo-European root denoting water or river.
> > > As such it is a part of several river and city names in Europe,
> > > including Narew, Narva and Neretva."
> > >
> > > From another Wikipedia article:
> > >
> > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narew
> > > "[The river] Narew originates in Belarus and flows into the
> > > Vistula river in Poland........The name of the river comes from
> > > a Proto-Indo-European root *nr primarily associated with water
> > > (compare with Narva, Neretva, Neris, Ner and Nur)."
> > >
> >
> > Another great source of etymological research on the internet
> > is the cybalist group, in the archives of which one might try
> > to find the above river names.
>
> O.K., I have tried:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narew
> "Hydronimic *noru- is especially well attested in Baltic (e.g.
> Prussian Nerus, Nerusa, Polish Narew [a large tributary of the
> Vistula] < Sudovian *naru:-), though it isn't clear to me what it's
> supposed to mean. Some etymologists connect it with the root *ner-
> 'dive, penetrate'. I wonder if Germanic *naru- 'narrow' might be
> somehow related (although the Narew is a remarkably wide river)."
>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/15941
> "...the name Nrowa appears to be related to that of the Narew (a
> major eastern tributary of the Vistula system; the name, Old Polish
> <Nari> = Nary <-- *Naru:s was borrowed from West Baltic during the
> Middle Ages). There are other *nar(u)- hydronyms in the Baltic area,
> e.g. lith. Narupe, OPr. Narus. Nrowa < *norwa < *norwa: might very
> well be the same name (only borrowed much earlier) with the regular
> feminine ending added to *noru-."
>