"3.

382 ENGLISH RIVER-vN.>\MES
appliwed to important rivers, we must start from a Celtic base *Staur-
or ’*bIcm'-, for Celtic Stz7r- would have given an OW form with i. A
base Slcur- will no doubt do for the Continental Slum, for cu, as well
as au, tended to become 17 in Gauhsh (Dottin, p. 97), and 17 may also
be due to Latin influence ; cu, 02: became it early in Latin (Sommer,
p. 80 f.). A Prim Celtic *Slaur- or *“Stem'- would give Brit *Stfr-,
whoTse 27 became OW ii ; this sound gives OE 27 in some cases.
l\ow ‘there 18 a Germanic ad) stfir meaning literally ‘ stiff ’, but
also big, sulky, fierce ’ and the like. The adjective belongs to the
root here d1SCUSS6Cl., (Examples are Norw _stur ‘ gloomy ’, l\"lDu
f“"”" h’€21VY. fi€YCC . MEG stiir ‘stiif, unfriendly ’ &'c., LG also
Fstrong . The corresponding word is absent in Old English and Old
iisian. It might have belonged to the early Anglo—Saxon vocabulary,
but it would be rerriarkable if a word so common at the time of the
invasion, that it could give rise to numerous river—naInes,should have
gone completely out of use by the time written literature begins. Also
the usual meanings of the adjective in Germanic languages do not
seem a likely starting-point for a c mmon river-name.
There are two_LG river—name. which show a certain likeness to
 name Stour,viz. the STGR (Schleswig) and the STUHR (Oldenburg).
ut the former is Stijrzzz 10th &c., Store 1225, Stariam I267. The
latter IS Sturm 81o, btucrc I420 (see Witt, pp. 203 f.). Witt derives
them from the ad} smr, but the forms point to a short vowel. And
the base of the names was Sturia, which cannot be that of the English
btour. See also Forster, ZSlPh i, 16.

Strat Co. Sec Neth,

Sturkel Do
A tributary of the Stour, perhaps that which rises near Melbury
Absbas [and runs past West Orchard to the Stour at l\/Iaiistoii.
‘l1'rc1cl932, 956, Stir! I, St‘ [I )1 ill I BCS 6 . ~
Sm"/“’l ‘Z78, I280*I QQV. Ir iSller3£fl)1(:8o:iti1li. 91, 74+, 9/O‘

Y ' o .
blur/‘cl obviously contains the river—nanie Stour. The Ola forms, -

though very corrupt, seem to point to a base with I-mutation (’“‘Sl)7rccl
or the like).  suppose Sturkcl is a diminutive of OE Stflr. It may
be simply Ola ‘*‘Sl_)7rmcel, a name analogous to Bydiuccl, Worwizzclzel
(see BOYD, WORF). The reduction of SI_)7rz'nrel would have analogies
in DART, DAR'ri?oRD‘ from Dwrcntc, 1):erentmzfor(l. For the loss of it
between two consonaiits, we may also compare the pers. name Ar/eel
tor :47}!/‘€61/. ltis _)USl.' possible, however, that there existed in OE a
(.lll1l1n411t1AVC‘ sullix without 11, corresponding to OIIG -1‘/dz.‘ (as in
(‘$1./I/(ll, lam/c/I‘, Kluge St, §63). A possible but doubtful exiunple of
this sullix is OE formzelirli Ep. _ '

 

ENGLISH RIVER-NAMES 383
Styric
Apparently a lost name of the upper Cam (Beds, Ess, Ca). The
stream is mentioned in boundaries of Littlebury. Ickleton also
occurs in the boundaries.

(andlang) Styrice ioth (izth) Lib El 521.

Apparently a derivative of Star with the British derivative suflix -ic.
Cf. DOFERIC. The suflix is no doubt diminutive, and the name means
‘ little Stour ’.

Summergil or Somergil He

Rises in Radnor VV of New Radnor and falls into the Lugg E of
Presteigne (12 m.). Forms the boundary for some way between He
and Radnor.

Somergilc. 1540 L, 1578 S, 1602 Owen iii, 333 ; —gi'll 158611. _
Harrison 1577 gives Somcrgill (—gz'Z) as an alternative name of the
Onny (Sa). A similar name is Somcrgelde 1394 Cl, which is apparently
the old name of the little brook that runs from near Preston Gubbals
via Albrighton to the Severn near Ufiington. A further example is
probably the lost place-name SUMMERGILD near Leominster : Simzc-r«
geilde n.d. Leominster, Somergyldes I 539 (Bannister).

Though the Soniergil runs most of its course in VVales, its name is
no doubt English, the first element being the word smnmcr. The
second element could not be identified with OScand gil, Engl gill,
even if it were not for Somergelde, which presumably gives us an
earlier form of the name. The said form points to OE gcldc ‘ barren ’
as the second element. OE gclde corresponds to ON gcldr, Norw
gjcld, OllG gult, l\/ll7lG gelt, gelde, which mean ‘giving no milk’
or ‘ barren ’. Also traiisfei'red senses occur. Thus in Swiss dialects
gull also means ‘ dried up ’ (of a spring). I suppose ‘ dried up ’ is
the meaning of guide in Soincrgil, so that the name means ‘ brook
dry in suinmer ’. It is true I have not had an opportunity of finding

' out if this is an accurate name. If this suggestion is correct, Somergil

is an exact counterpart of UAMPS, Welsh IIAFIIESP. "J‘lie second
element of the latter actually means ‘dry; barren, sterile ’. It is
quite possible that Somergil (Somcrgclrlc) is in reality a translation
of the Welsh I'lal’liesp, which might have been the earlier name. For
loss of d after lin dialects, see EDGr, §3o7.

Swale K '
A branch of the l\/ledway, which forms a channel between the Isle

of Sheppey and the mainland (12 m.).
b'llIl('(I/I/1l(.’ (lluininis) 81;: BCS 34!. Sim/u.'r.' (noin) 8x5 ib. 353.
Swu/<3 1361 Pat. Wes/-,}:'ui‘lswu/i" I576 l}:iii'ibai'tlc, 1580 Caindcn 171.
s\vAi.12 (pasture) : La Siva/c, l’l/U3’/85701116 1329 Ch.

 

 

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