On ‘Old European hydronymy’ – or what remains of it

(Main Topic)

Abstract

The article deals with two topics. First, it addresses the presumed roots uridg. *en-/*on- ‘to flow’ and uridg. *(h1)leik- ‘bend’ as pure ghost roots, and the popular root uridg. *el/*ol- as a ‘semantic ghost root’ (it never has an appellative meaning ‘to flow’). Second, it examines the names Main, Isar, Rhine, Ruhr and their relatives, questioning whether they can actually serve as arguments in favour of an ‘Old European hydronymy’, given that they can be explained (in some cases exclusively) in terms of individual languages.