River-Names. 



165 



in Yorkshire, was formerly called the Nydder: the river Neath, 

 in Glamorganshire, gave its name to the town by which it 

 flows, called by the Romans Nid-um. In Lancashire there 

 is a river Nad-in, which philologists derive from the Welsh 

 nad, a shrill noise, or from nad-er, to utter a shrill cry. 

 There is in Sanscrit a remarkable confirmation of the proba- 

 bility of such an etymology, for whilst nad means "to sound/ ' 

 nada, its derivative, means " a river." Moreover, nadi (= 

 the rivers) is a name of the Brahmanical Deity in the Vedas. 



As connected with this river-name we have Noddre-ford, 

 named in a charter relating to Semley as one of the points 

 of boundary, and also Nit/ie, 1 (equivalent, as Sir R. C. Hoare 

 says, to the Latin Nidum) given as the name of a bridge 

 crossing a stream near Wanborough. 

 Kennet. The river on which Marlborough stands, the Roman 

 name for which, Ciinet-\o, was evidently derived from it. 

 Celtic scholars interpret it as compounded of cyn (=head, 

 or chief) and Nedd (plur. netli) which has been just explained , 

 The same name is found in Lancashire, where it is pronounced 

 Kun-net. In the Shropshire Domesday you meet with it 

 as Cunet, the modern form of which has come to be Cound. 

 There are two villages called respectively East, and West 

 Kennet, that are situated on the banks of the Wiltshire 

 stream. 



9. Were. Camden speaks of Trowbridge as being on the river 

 Were, though modern authorities call the river the Biss. 

 In old maps of the last century, portions at all events of 

 the stream are called by the name Were. The word is 

 possibly derived from the Welsh gwyr, which means crooked. 

 The name War- minster means the church on the Were. 

 War-leigh, near Bradford-on-Avon, derives its name from 

 a stream which in the Court Rolls of the estate, is described 

 as " rivulus cui nomen est Weare" There is a Wier Street 

 on a small stream by Great Somerford, which looks as 

 though its name came from this source. 



1 See Wilts Arch. Mag.) vol. vii., p. 125. 



