The great river of India, which has given its name to that country, is derived from Sansc. _sindu_, Persian _hindu_, water or sea. It was known to the ancients under its present name 500 years B.C. Another river of Hindostan, the Sinde, shews more exactly the Sansc. form, as the Indus does the Persian. It will be seen that there are some other instances of this word in the ancient or modern river-names of Europe. 1. _India._ The INDUS and the SINDE. _Asia Minor._ INDUS ant., now the Tavas. _France._ INDIS ant., now the Dain. _Germany._ INDA, 9th cent. The INDE near Aix-la-Chapelle. _Norway._ The INDA. 2. _With the ending er._ _France._ The INDRE. Joins the Loire. The most widely spread root is the Sansc. _ap_, Goth. _ahva_, Old High Germ. _aha_, Old Norse _â_, Ang.-Sax. _ea_, Lat. _aqua_, &c. With the form _ahva_ Fürst connects Ahava as the name of a river in the district of Babylon, mentioned in Ezra, chap. 8, v. 21--"Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava." But from the 15th verse it would rather seem that Ahava was a place and not a river--"and I gathered them together to the river that _runneth_ to Ahava." The place might certainly, as in many other cases, take its name from the river on which it stood, but this is one step further into the dark. From the root _ab_ or _ap_ is formed Latin _amnis_, a river, corresponding, as Diefenbach suggests, with a Sansc. _abnas_. Also the Celt. _auwon_, _avon_, _abhain_, or _amhain_, of the same meaning, from the simple form found in Obs. Gael. _abh_, water. The Old German _aha_, _awa_, _ava_, or _afa_, signifying water or river, is added to many names of that country which are themselves probably of Celtic or other origin; the form in Modern German is generally _ach_ or _au_. The ending in _a_ of some English rivers, as the Rotha, Bratha, &c., I have already suggested, chapter 3, may be from the same origin; this form corresponds most nearly with the Scandinavian. There are one or two, as the Caldew in Cumberland, which seem to show the Germ. form _au_ or _ow_. The ending _ick_ or _ock_ in several Scotch rivers, as the Bannock and the Errick, may be from a word of similar meaning, most probably the obs. Gael. _oich_. I divide the widely spread forms from this root for convenience into two groups, _ap_ or _av_, and _ach_ or _ah_. The relation between the consonants is shown in the Gr. ἵππος, Lat. _equus_, Ang.-Sax. _eoh_, horse, three words similarly formed from one root. The European names in the following group I take to be most probably from the Celtic--the Asiatic, if they come in, must be referred to the Sanscrit, or a kindred and coeval tongue. 1. _England._ The IVE. Cumberland. _Portugal._ The AVIA. _Germany._ IPFA, 8th cent., now the IPF--here? _Asia Minor._ HYPIUS ant.--here?