Editing Humber (section)

==Names==
There are numerous theories for how the [[hydronym]] of ''Humber'' is derived from [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] or [[Pre-Celtic]] languages. For example, it may be a [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] formation containing ''-[a]mb-ṛ'', a variant of the element ''*amb'' meaning "moisture", with the prefix ''*hu-'' meaning "good, well" (cf. [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''hy-'', in ''Hywel'', etc).<ref name="BLITON">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Alan |title=The Brittonic Language in the Old North |url=https://spns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Alan_James_Brittonic_Language_in_the_Old_North_BLITON_Volume_II_Dictionary_2020_Edition.pdf |website=Scottish Place Name Society |access-date=29 April 2021}}</ref>

The first element may also be ''*hū-'', with connotations of "seethe, boil, soak", of which a variant forms the name of the adjoining [[River Hull]].<ref name="BLITON" />

The estuary appears in some [[Latin language|Latin]] sources as {{lang|la|Abus}} (A name used by [[Edmund Spenser]] in ''[[The Faerie Queene]]''). This is possibly a Latinisation of the Celtic form {{lang|cy|Aber}} ([[Welsh Language|Welsh]] for river mouth or estuary) but is erroneously given as a name for both the Humber and [[River Ouse, Yorkshire|The Ouse]] as one continuous watercourse.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rivet |last2=Smith |title=The Place-Names of Roman Britain |date=1979 |location=London |isbn=9780713420777 }}</ref> Both {{lang|la|Abus}} and {{lang|cy|Aber}} may record an older [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] word for water or river, (as in the 'Five Rivers' of the [[Punjab]]). An alternative derivation may be from the Latin verb {{lang|la|abdo}} meaning "to hide, to conceal". The successive name ''Humbre''/''Humbri''/''Umbri'' may continue the meaning via the Latin verb {{lang|la|umbro}} also meaning "to cover with shadows".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monumenta.ch/latein/text.php?tabelle=Beda_Venerabilis&rumpfid=Beda%20Venerabilis,%20De%20Temporum%20Ratione,%20%20%2066&level=3&domain=&lang=0&links=&inframe=1&PHPSESSID=507769d9d55c951c412fee36a76d09c2 |author=Beda |title=De Temporum Ratione |page=CAPUT LXV, number 269 |no-pp=y |access-date=24 January 2013 }}</ref>