APRIL 67 



example of a Celtic people dwelling near a river, they 

 acquire the habit of referring to it simply as amhuinn 

 (avun), the river, or uisc, the water ; and successive races 

 adopt the convenient term as saving them the trouble of 

 finding a new designation. 



A curious example once came to my notice of the 

 modern use of the generic term for a stream. I was 

 fishing the river at Cassiobury in Hertfordshire, and in 

 the course of the day I asked the keeper what was its 

 name. 



'Well, sir,' he replied, 'it has a name to be zure, but 

 dang me if I can remember un. We just calls it " the 

 river." ' 



Presently a respectable-looking man came along — 

 apparently a baiUff or some state official — who, the keeper 

 said, would be sure to recollect the name of the river. 

 But no — he, too, had forgotten it, though he remembered 

 having heard it ; and it was not until after he had made 

 inquiry in the village that he returned with the infor- 

 mation that the river rejoiced in the name of the Gade. 

 Well, suppose this country were to fall under the dominion 

 of Russia, and English speech to be proscribed or to 

 become obsolete, the new rulers would assuredly adopt 

 the title most commonly current in the locality, and the 

 Gade would be known henceforth as 'the River.' Even 

 so, when Celtic ceased to be spoken in England the 

 conquering race made use of the generic titles they found 

 in use: hence, from amhuinn, the innumerable Avons, 

 Evans, and Owens among English, Scottish, and Irish 

 river-names, and, from idsc, Esk, Exe, Usk, Isis (latinised), 

 and Ouse. Uisce bagh — the water of hfe — eau-de-vie — 

 has been shorn of its specific suffix, and has taken its 



