Der Natur auf der Spur

In the Alps there is a little skiing village of Lech.  Next to it is a village of Zug (not the only one in the Alps).  So we have Lech & Zug.  Now, the former is named after the river that runs through both towns – the river Lech.

Now, the River Lech is very likely the same river after which the Vindelici were named.  But if that is true, i.e., that the “-lici” refers to the River Lech then the first part of their name becomes even more curious because it suggests that these are simply Vindi-lici, i.e.,  Wends who live by the river Lech (as opposed to some mythical “Vindelician” tribe).

That these were the same as Ligurians of Illyria we have already mentioned.  That Nestor in the PVL affirmatively calls Slavs Noricans (suggesting that they came to Pannonia from Noricum)* we have also mentioned.  That we have a Lech and a Zug right next to each other we mention now.

* But Noricum is not Vindelicia! Correct, except that Noricum bears all the trademarks of a native name whereas the Roman province of Vindelicia was named in the Roman fashion after the inhabitants.  If the inhabitants did not call themselves Vindi at the time, a reasonable supposition would be that the name came to the Romans via a Germanic intermediary – perhaps the “Galls” who forced their way into Northwestern Italy BC.

What else?

Female Adjectives

How about some river names nearby.  For example we have the Wertach which also has given its name to the town nearby.  But that is the old Wertaha.  What could that mean?  After all, -aha is old Germanic for water, like agua.  So the name must be Germanic or at least a “Germanization”.  But is it?

Notice that virtually all Slavic river names end in an -a.  That is because reka/rzeka is a feminine noun in Slavic languages.  Consequently, so are the names of the rivers.  But there is something else.

Virtually, all of these Slavic names can be explained by viewing them as descriptive – or in plain English, as adjectives.  Thus -awa would not be some “water” name but merely an -a suffix to a female adjective of reka/rzeka.  Some town names also have this -awa ending in Slavic countries – even towns that have absolutely nothing to do with water.  Others that have a neutral gender have an -owo ending.  Masculine gendered towns have just an -ow.

By this reasoning the “-awa” names have nothing to do with water.  Rather all the rivers have “-awa” because the underlying language’s gender assigned to the word river was female, e.g., rzeka/reka.

Notice that virtually all Slavic river names end in -a (but not all if Lech were to be a Slavic name!).  Virtually all German river names do not (der or ein Fluss is a masculine noun).  Also notice that many German names (though not all) did previously have an -a ending.

Which brings us to the river Wertach which flows close to the Lech.  Its prior name was Wertaha.  Note too that although “-awa” could be a Slavic ending so could “-aha” (as in gospocha, wataha, etc).  And we mean today – not in some reconstructed past.

But what can it mean then?

Wartka (which also applies to the river Warta/Warthe) simply means “fast flowing.”  But  wierci[e]c also means “to drill” (thus, wiertarka, i.e., a drill – BTW note too the ending –arka – we will have something to say about that when we come to lavercas and the like).  Either of those could apply to a fast flowing river (as in Wiertawa).

Incidentally, the Gothic wairthan is related to the German werden = to become.  It may be that these words are in fact related to the Slavic wiercic.  However, what better expresses a river name:

• the “becoming”  river
• the “drilling” (or “fast flowing”) river;

But, hey, the books say that Vindelicians were “Celts”, right?

Now, the really cool thing is that Lech may mean the “white” river which brings up some really cool questions about the name of Lechites and other tribes such as the Leucosyrians (or “White” Syrians) who lived in Anatolia.

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