Names denoting Water. 



169 



Goose-acre, applied to a small field on the river-bank just 

 outside the town of Trowbridge, has a similar origin. 

 Biss. The name of the river which runs through Trowbridge. I 

 venture to suggest that this may be a dialectical form of this 

 same Celtic root : the transition from Wis, as in Wis-be&ch: 

 and Wissej/, would be easy enough to Biss. As a personal 

 name " Bissey " is not unknown in Wilts. 



11. Another of these Celtic words signifying " water" is her. This 

 word, according to Evans, is used by ancient bards in Wales for 

 dwfr. Ferguson 1 thinks that the root of this word is found in the 

 Sanscrit par (=to move) . In Gaelic we have bier for water (com- 

 pare the Hebrew i?^'-sheba, &c), and, in Irish and Gaelic, bar 

 means the sea. The Breton verb beri signifies to flow Near 

 Snowdon you have Bereu Berwenydd (=the oaken springs) . 



In neighbouring Counties you meet with the word frequently in 

 its simple form. There is a small river in Somerset called the 

 Bere, — near Bridgewater you meet with Bere-FsLrm, and close 

 by Ilminster with Bere-Qiocomh. In Dorset moreover you have 

 Bere Regis, situated on a small river bearing the same name. In 

 Wiltshire, as far as I know, it is only met with in composition, as in 

 the following instance : — 



Bar-ford. — This is the name of no less than three villages, or 

 hamlets, in Wilts, — one, Barford St. Martin, not far from 

 Wilton ; — another next Bramshaw ; — and a third close by 

 Standlinch (or Trafalgar, as it is now called) . The meaning 

 of the name is " river-ford," and all three places are close by 

 streams. 



12. Connected with words denoting water are those, found princi- 

 pally in the south-western part of Wiltshire, in which we have the 

 word funt, (= a spring or well,) forming part of the compound 

 name. It may be observed, in passing, that the prevalence of 

 names derived from springs, and they are abundant in Anglo-Saxon 

 names, shews the tenacity with which fountain-worship was ob- 

 served. Such a practice, even though in a measure modified, 



1 River-Names of Europe, p. 64. 



VOL. XIV. — NO. XLI. 



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