TEESDALE PIACE-NAMES. 161 



?11DtD, which means rush, reed, or seaweed. The most simple 

 derivation appears to be from S(S, mare, which in the oblique cases 

 has /added, as in scBfar^ siafar., unde scBfargrds, herba maritima." 

 Ihre. 



"■ Semes, rushes ; seavy ground, such as is overgrown with 

 rushes." Eay and Brockett. 



In Brugsch's "Egypt under the Pharaohs," vol. i., p. 201, 

 is the following passage : — " The papyrus rolls to which we have 

 alluded mention a number of lakes and waters, situated in the 

 neighboui'hood of the foreign town Zal, whose peculiar designa- 

 tions at once remind us of their Semitic origin. The marshes 

 and lakes rich in water plants, which are at this day known by 

 the name of Birket Menzaleh, were then called by the name 

 common to all these waters, Sufi, (or with the Egyptian article, 

 Pa-sufi, which is the same as ^ The Sufi''), which word com- 

 pletely agrees with the Hebrew Suf. The interpreters generally 

 understand this word in the sense of rushes or a rushy country, 

 while in old Egyptian it almost completely answers to a water 

 rich in papyrus plants." 



Is not the Icel. sef, Sw. self, Dan. siv, Engl, seave, the same as 

 the Egyptian sufi and Hebrew suf? It is most probable, as 

 they are very closely allied in form, and bear the same meaning; 

 and though the plants differ in each of the two cases their habits 

 are the same ; they all live under similar circumstances, except 

 those of climate. 



It is regrettable that Ihre has not given us the names of those 

 philologists who derive saf or siv from the Hebrew word for 

 juncus. He says '■'■alii,''^ and nothing more. There seems little 

 doubt that these were correct in deriving the Scandinavian sif 

 from the Egyptian and Hebrew suf. 



" Seves, soft rushes, a name applied indiscriminately, I believe, 

 to Juncus effusus and Juncus conglomeratus, the jjith of both 

 species having been customarily applied to candle-making pur- 

 poses. Dan. siv, a name given to several water plants, e.g., 

 Scirpus lacustris, Juncus conglomeratus, &c. Old Sw. skcef Dan. 

 Dial, sov, sev." Atkinson's Clev. Dial. 



Seve-Ught, a rushlight, ibid. 



