Group 32: rivers of the south coast

The Cosmographer returns to the point at which he seems to have spotted his error, and enumerates the remaining rivers of the south coast. It is a moot point whether the name *Dubris refers to the very minor River Dour or to the fort at Dover; that the Cosmographer lists the place above at 106₃₅ allows us to suggest that the name was written in a position straddling the coastline, causing him confusion about its status. Lemana must be the East Rother (Ekwall 1928, 243), entering the sea at the northern end of Romney Marsh in the Roman period. Nouia must be the Sussex River Ouse, as the Romano-British names of the other major rivers in this area are already known from Ptolemy. The present name is late and probably derives from a misunderstanding of Aqua de Lewes, the medieval name of the river, as French Aqua de l’Ouse (Ekwall 1928, 317).

The next name is a conflation which may contain the name of the River Test again, although it is more likely a mutilated form of *(T)r(is)antona, the Τρισαντωνος ποταμου εκβολαι of Ptolemy (Geography II.3, 3), the River Arun. What to make of <essasenua> is unclear, although it is possibly a conflation of two names, one ending -essa, the other something like <Senua>. <Cunia> may be an error for *Icena, the Itchen (Ekwall 1928, 218); although of unknown meaning in British, the form is quite clearly correct as it occurs in the well-attested tribal name Iceni. <Velox> may be the Ουεξαλλα εισχυσις of Ptolemy (II.3, 2), the River Parrett, extremely misplaced and perhaps taken up by the Cosmographer at the end of his list for the sake of completeness.