hydronym

A hydronym (from Greek hydor (ὕδωρ), "water" and onoma (ὄνομα), "name") is a proper name of a body of water. Hydronymy is the study of hydronyms and of how bodies of water receive their names and how they are transmitted through history. It can apply to rivers, lakes, even oceanic elements.

Like most toponyms, as linguistic items, hydronyms are very conservative, with successor peoples often retaining the name given a body of water. For example, Mississippi has passed from Native Americans to contemporary Americans (and then to other langagues). Often a given body of water will have several entirely different names given to it by different peoples. For example, Vltava and Moldau are the Czech and German names, respectively, for the same river in central Europe.

Hydronyms from various languages can all share a common etymon. For example, The Danube, Don, Dniester, Dnieper and Donets rivers all contain the Scythian name for "river" (cf. don "river, water" in modern Ossetic).

See also

• Old European hydronymy
• Rigvedic rivers
• List of river name etymologies
• Toponym

References

• Robert S.P. Beekes, "River", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, pp. 486-87.
• H.L. Mencken, "The American language: An inquiry into the development of English in the United States", 1921, 2nd ed., rev. and enl. 3. Geographical Names