From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 2227
Date: 2000-04-27
----- Original Message -----From: christopher gwinnSent: Thursday, April 27, 2000 5:59 PMSubject: Re: [cybalist] Re: EasterHi, Chris,I got both your messages the moment I sent my remarks on the danu- names. I value your Celtic expertise very much, so I'm glad we agree on the etymology of the Danube, the Rhone and the Donwy as far as the form is concerned. What's new to me is the connection with Irish danae and the meaning "swift".As for hydronyms derived from divine names, I still doubt if it's a common naming pattern. Belisama is primarily an adjective (and a physically descriptive one at that), and its use as a rivername may have little or nothing to do with its theonymic function. Matrona is a more likely counterexample, though even here one may argue that it's just "the Mother of Rivers" -- figuratively, not in a religious sense.Piotr
It is not uncommon at all amongst the Celts to have rivers named after
divinities - in fact, there are quite a few rivers (as well as other bodies
of water) in Celtic territories named after divinites - for example, the
river Belisama "brightest one" in Britain (known as a goddess in Gaul) as
well as the river Matrona (Marne) meaning "Mother goddess" known in Welsh
myth as Modron, or St. Madrun.
Rodanus is from PIE *PRO-DAN-U "great flowing" or "very violent/swift."