72 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



According to Bjorkman's " Svensk-Englesk Ordbok," mote means 

 confluence as well as meeting or assembly. Aa in Norwegian and 

 Danish and A in Swedish signify a small river or streamlet, and we 



o o o 



have in Swedish : Amun, rivermouth, Abryn, river brink, Astrand, 

 riverbank, as well as Aqfiord and Aamot in Norwegian. Aamot 

 means " a meeting of waters " and " confluence." (See Geelmuyden's 

 " Engelsk-Norsk Ordbok.") According to the " Dictionnaire des 

 Bureaux de Poste " (Berne. 1895), Aamot, near Drammen, and 

 Aamotsda/, near Skien, are post-offices in Norway. Map 95, g. 6, in 

 the " Century Atlas " shows Aamot, in the province of Hedermarke, 

 Norway, on the Glommen River. 



Watersmeet, where the Combe Park Water joins the East Lyn 

 River, a few miles above Lynmouth in Devonshire, England, is well 

 known to tourists in the Doone country. Bagworthy Water is a stream 

 in the same region. Watersmeet is found in Johnston's Atlas, 1889 

 (see Devonshire), and on the North Devon sheet, i. e., No. 27, of the 

 maps of the Ordnance Survey. Again, Watersmeet appears as the 

 name of a town in Michigan (see Map 22, C. 5, Century Atlas). Is 

 water used as a synonym of brook or river anywhere in this country ? 

 Moore, in his Irish Melodies, sings of the "Sweet vale of Avoca," 

 where " the bright waters meet." The waters whose meeting (mote) 

 forms the Avoca (which is Celtic for " meeting of the waters," accord- 

 ing to Chambers's Encyclopedia), are the Avonbeg, or little river, and 

 the Avonmore, big river. 



The Celtic Avoca and the Norwegian Aamot appear to be closely 

 synonymous with the Devonshire watersmeet. One is inclined to ask 

 whether aa or mote occurs in the folk-speech of Devonshire, or of any 

 other English county in which Norse influence is traceable. Maps of 

 the Lake country present so many " waters " and " becks " that one 

 is led to think that aa or mote may still survive in the folk-speech of 

 Cumberland or Westmorland. 



It is likely that " mote," and not " moat " is the correct form of 

 the word cited by Dr. Green, and that it was brought over sea from 

 an early home of the Angles. Possibly there are other motes or meets 

 in New England, but I have searched many maps for them in vain ; 

 nor have I found a mote on any map of East Anglia, or Friesland, or 

 Denmark. 



Edward M. Hartwell. 

 Boston, April 23, 1902. 



