Thames

Meaning

Proper Noun

• river in southern England, flowing 336 km (209 mile mi.) from Gloucestershire (county) through Wiltshire (county) Oxfordshire (county) Berkshire (county) Buckinghamshire (county) Surrey (county) and Greater London (county) to the Thames Estuary and North Sea.
• A sea area centred on the Thames Estuary.
• river Ontario (province) Canada (country), flowing 258 km (160 mi.) to Lake St. Clair.
• river in the U.S. State of Connecticut (state) flowing 24 km (15 mi.) past New London to Long Island Sound.
• town in the North Island of New Zealand (country), situated on the Firth of Thames (a large bay) and the Coromandel Peninsula.

Origin

• From Middle English Temese, from Old English Temes, Temese (compare Welsh Tafwys), from Latin Tamesis, Tamesas. Variant spellings with h arose in Middle English due to the mistaken assumption of a Greek etymology.
• The Latin name is possibly from Proto-Celtic *tamesās ("river, waters"), a masculine ā-stem of *tames, Proto-Indo-European, zero-grade of *témHes-, *témHos, an s-stem from the root *temH-. Related to Proto-Celtic *temeslos ("darkness"), *temos. A parallel in Proto-Celtic of "dark, darkness" taking on the figurative meaning of "water" can also be found in Proto-Celtic *dubros ("water, dark"), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰubrós ("dark"), yielding Welsh dŵr ("water"), Irish dobhar ("water, sea, dark, gloomy").
• Alternatively from Proto-Celtic *tā-, *tāyo-, from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂- ("to melt"), or from unknown non-Indo-European root.
• Possible cognates include the names of rivers and tributaries such as:
• Taff, Tamar (from Latin Tamarus), Tame, Tavy, Team, Teifi (from Welsh Teifi, from Old Welsh Tebi, Teibi), Teme, and Teviot (Latin Tefius, Teifius) in Great Britain
• Tambre (from Latin Tamaris), Támega (in Galician, Portuguese Tâmega, Latin Tamice), Támoga or Támboga (Latin Tamega), and Tamuxe, all of them flowing through Galicia (Spain) and northern Portugal
• Tamaran in France
• Tammaro (from Latin Tamarus) in Italy
• Demer in Belgium
• Tamyras in Phoenicia