River-Names. 163 



clearly the Anglo-Saxon pronunciation of the Welsh dwfr. 

 The termination el is probably the diminutive, as in the name 

 Eb-el, so that Dwfr-el (or Devrel as it is commonly written 

 in old documents) means the " little stream,-" In the name 

 Dover (the ancient Bubris, as Richard of Cirencester tells 

 us,) you have the modern form of the word : the place being 

 so called from the small stream which there falls into the sea. 

 The long walk by the strand at Ryde is called by the same 

 name, though pronounced Duv-ver. 



The following names of places are derived from one or other 

 of these words : — 



LONGBRIDGE-^ 



Hill- I These are the names of five villages that 



MoNKTON- VDeveeel. are situated on various portions of the 



Brixton- stream. 



Kingston- J * 



DuR-LEiGH (=the watered leigh), a small hamlet not far from Kennet. 



DuRN-FORD (formerly Dur-en-ford), i.e., the river-ford. 



DuRRiNGTON (in Domesday Dur-en-ton), i.e., the town, or village 

 by the river. 



Idovee. a village near Dauntsey. In an ancient charter^ of 

 ^thelwulf to Malmesbury, " Ydouere," as it is there spelt, 

 is described as a brook. Originally the word was most 

 probably y-dwfr, that is literally "the water.'' Compare 

 with this example the Cornish, dour (=water). 



Wardour. Written in Domesday, Werdore, also spelt in ancient 

 records Verdure and Verdore. I think there can be little 

 doubt as to the latter portion of the word being dour{= 

 water) . The former may be the Cornish war or var which 

 means " upon," or " against," and so the whole word signify 

 "on the water." The Latin names that occur in various 

 portions of the Itinerary of Antoninus, or of Richard of 

 Cirencester, viz. — 'Pontibus," or "Ad pontes," may be 

 adduced as paralled instances. Pryce in his Archseol. Cornu- 

 Brittannica, gives as the name of a Cornish village, Gwar-der 

 iSee Cod. Dipl., 263. 



