Now that we are done with our venting (so to speak) we look for additional topics. Before we get there, some off the top remarks, however:
Those who have followed our Water of Jassa here and here as well as our little puzzle, will enjoy our threading these topics together. For your amusement, note that the River Thames on which sits the town of London, etc., was, apparently, also known as Thame-Issa. Why? It seems that this is result of the River Thame combining with the River Isis – hence Thame & Issa. A part of it was, according to one , called *(p)lowonida (the Indo-European roots *pleu- “flow” and *-nedi “river”? See the rivers Nida). And a potsherd found nearby bears the name Tamesubugus fecit – that is, supposedly, the name of someone Tamesubugus who made the original pot. Actually, what it says is TΛ·MII·SV·BV·GVS·FII·[…] The II is supposed to be an “e” and hence “fe” and hence “fecit”. Oddly, we know a River Bug from the Belorussian border. Whether it means something like “God” because of its similarity with Bog is to be doubted (does Bug have anything to do with beugen (what you do when you run but also when you bend the knee in front of a deity) rather than the Iranian bhaga? So many possibilities.
There is also the question of the city on the river Bug, i.e., Brest – former Brest Litovsk (to distinguish it from other Brests in Slavic lands of which there are plenty).
Of course, there is also another Brest – unsurprisingly in Bretagne. Are all those Brests Slavic/Suavic/Venetic?
If you’re reading this you have a dirty mind
And that’s before we even get to Dover – a Celtic word having something to do with water. Fair enough, but wouldn’t we then suspect a reconstructed (hypothetical) Celtic *dubro– in the city of Dubrovnik too (rather than having anything to do with oaks)?
And what of Londonbyrig? The brig is supposedly like a “borough” or “burgh” and is Saxon. But weren’t there Angles there too? You know, the Suevi Angli? Does it have anything to do with the shore (berg)? Maybe, although this is hard to tell since most burghs would have been built on a river or lake to access water.
For this reason the question of whether -ava really means water is also tangly and needs a “fresh” look.
Copyright ©2016 jassa.org All Rights Reserved