Derivation : There are few analogues : the Nassogne river of Belgium, recorded in A.D 690 as Nassania fons (Carnoy in RIO, viii (1956), 102); two rivers Nestos ( = Nestos) in Dalmatia and Thrace (Pokorny in ZCP, xxi (1940), 121); possibly the second element is British *Raxtonessa. In Andamnan's Life of St Columba the present name is fluvium Nesam (II,19 et II,21) and its lake is mentioned too (ad lacum fluminis Nisae, II,22), clearly the modern Loch ness. Of the two roots proposed by R&C, that taken from Ekwall ERN 119 seems the better : *ned-as in Sanskrit nadi 'river', German nass 'wet', Greek notew 'am wet'; Pokorny analyses the name further as from *Nesta < Ned-ta, and thinks the root ultimately Illyrian; Carnoy argues for a root *nat-so, from Indo-European (s)nat- 'flowing'.