N0TE3 ON LOCAL ETYMOLOGIES. 
NOTES ON LOCAL ETYMOLOGIES. 
ABSTRACT OF PAPER BY MR. R. N. WORTH, F.G.S., HON. MEM. 
(Read October 31st, 1878.) 
The oldest place names in Devon are Keltic in origin, and, follow- 
ing the usual rule, are those of the larger rivers. Of the smaller 
some are Keltic, some Teutonic, and a few are mixed. We are 
struck at the outset with a very remarkable group — the Tamar, 
Tavy, Taw, Torridge, and Teign. In each and all we find the same 
root, which appears in the names of the Thames, Tees, Tay, Tweed, 
Taff, and many other rivers, a generic Keltic word for water, which 
we may take as ta or tau. For want of recognizing this relation- 
ship there has been much confusion and inconsistency in the 
attempts to deal with these names. Tamar has been derived from 
the Gaelic tamh, "gentle." Treating the root-word as meaning 
simply "water," we find that the final syllables in Tamar, Tavy, 
and Torridge, are nothing more than distinctive suffixes in the later 
Keltic Cornish. The Cornish branch of the Kymry treated this ta 
and tau as a proper name, and proceeded to distinguish one tau 
from the other by suitable affixes. Ta-mar is simply Ta-mawr, the 
"big Ta," or "water;" Ta-vy, Tn-veor, the "little Ta." In the 
Taw we have the root untouched ; but Tor-ridge is Ta,-r7iyd, the 
"ford Ta," from the ford, rhyd, by which it was crossed by the 
Romans, a little above the present Bideford bridge. The Teign 
may be the " icy " or " cold Ta," eign having that significance. 
Every river within the Plymouth district has a name of Keltic 
origin. The Avon is from the root of on, " water," one of the com- 
monest of Keltic river names. The Erme is doubtful ; but Polwhele 
blundered sadly when he traced it to the East, and held it to be 
indicative of Armenian colonization. Chappie's iar, " a river," and 
am, " water," though ingenious, is almost equally beside the mark. 
The Yealm presents a curious example of reactionary corruption. 
It is without doubt from the Kornu hayle, "a river." The oldest 
recorded name is Yale. The modern name arose purely from the 
