The root _sal_ Förstemann takes to be Celtic, and to mean salt water. No doubt saltness is a characteristic which would naturally give a name to a river. So it does in the case of the "Salt River" in the U.S., and of the Salza in the Salzkammergut. But I can hardly think that all the many rivers called the SAALE are salt, and I am inclined to go deeper for the meaning. The Sansc. has _sal_, to move, whence _salan_, water. The first meaning then seems to be water--applied to the sea as _the_ water--and then to salt as derived from the sea. So that when the Gr. άλς, the Old Norse _salt_, and the Gael. _sal_, all mean both salt, and also the sea, the latter may be the original sense. From the above root, _sal_, to move, the Lat. forms both _salire_ and _saltare_, as from the same root come _sal_ and _salt_. I take the root _sal_ then in river-names to mean, at least in some cases, water. In one or two instances the sense of saltness comes before us as a known quality, and in such case I have taken the names elsewhere. But failing the proper proof, which would be that of tasting, I must leave the others where they stand. 1. _Germany._ SALA, 1st cent. Five rivers called the SAALE. SALIA, 8th cent. The SEILLE. _France._ The SELLÉ. Two rivers. _Russia._ The SAL. Joins the Don. _Spain._ SALO ant., now the XALON. 2. _With the ending en = Sansc. salan, water?_ _Ireland._ The SLAAN and the SLANEY. _France._ The SELUNE. Dep. Manche. It is possible that the root _als_, _ils_, found in the name of several rivers, as the ALZ, ELZ, ILSE, may be a transposition of the above, just as Gr. άλς = Lat. _sal_. But upon the whole I have thought another derivation better, and have included them in a preceding group. From the Sansc. _var_ or _vars_, to bedew, moisten, whence _var_, water, _varsas_, rain, Gr. ἐρση, dew, Gael. and Ir. _uaran_, fresh water, I get the following, dividing them into the two forms, _var_ and _vars_. _The form var._ 1. _England._ The VER. Herts. _France._ VIRIA ant. The VIRE. _Germany._ The WERRE in Thuringia. 2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ WARINNA, 8th cent. The WERN. The WARN(AU). Mecklenburg-Schwerin. _Naples._ VARANO,[28] a lagoon on the Adriatic shore. _The form vars._ 1. _England._ The WORSE. Shropshire. _France._ The OURCE. Joins the Seine. _Germany._ The WERS. Joins the EMS. _Italy._ ARSIA ant.--here? VARESE. Lake in Lombardy. _Persia._ AROSIS ant., now the Tab--here? _Armenia._ ARAXES[29] ant., now the ARAS--here? 2. _With the ending en._ _Germany._ URSENA, 8th cent., now the OERTZE. _Asia Minor._ ORSINUS ant., now the Hagisik--here? 3. _With the ending el._ _Germany._ URSELA, 8th cent. The URSEL. HÖRSEL. Joins the Werre.