* A.L.F Rivet & C. Smith, p. 399 : 

LOXA

SOURCES

- Ptolemy II, 3, 4 : Loxa  potamon ekbolai (= LOXA FLUVII OSTIA) 

- Ravenna 107 35 (= R&C 165) : LOXA 

- Ravenna's entry occurs in what purports to be a section of habitation-names, but at least two other rivers (misread as settlements from the map) are present in it, and there is no problem about taking this entry as another. However, the identity of Ravenna's name with Ptolemy's cannot be absolutely affirmed, despite appearances; the next name in Ravenna is Locatreve, and it is not impossible that Loxa is a mistaken first attempt to spell the first part of this longer name (compare Calunio - Gallunio at 107₁). 

DERIVATION. The name is not easy. Ekwall (discussed by Williams) associated it with two Lox rivers of Somerset, ERN 267-68, and Williams adds Loxford in Essex. The form Loxa with -x- seems to be correct, despite Jackson's suggestion (perhaps following Diack : see O'Rahilly EIHM 381-82) that as with Taexali / Taezali, -z- may be intended (after miscopying in Greek). Ravenna, if it is listing the same name, supports -x-. Williams followed Ekwall in proposing a Celtic root cognate with Greek Loxos 'oblique', Latin luscus 'one-eyed ' and Old Irish losc 'crippled'; hence, for a river, 'crooked' or 'winding one'. These meanings are probably applicable to a variety of names abroad. AI 456₃ records Losa (also Losa ficus, DAG 248) whose river is now the Losse (Gers, France); personal names include Lossa (DAG 697, 739, 1283), Loscius (DAG 706), Loscus (CIL III. 3059), perhaps Losagni (gen.; CIIC 236, Iveragh, Co. Kerry); and there is a divine name Losa, Loxa known on five altars from northern Spain (J. M. Blâzquez Martinez, Diccionario de las religiones prerromanas de Hispania (Madrid, 1975), 117), though it is of course possible that the Losa place in Aquitania and the deity of the Basque Country are of different origin. Jackson in LHEB 536-39 (notes) regarded the etymology given above as problematic because of the chronology of sound-changes in British, but we now know that Ravenna's North British information relates not to the fourth century but more to the first, since it was drawn from the military map which was also ultimately a source for Ptolemy. In PP 136 (note), Jackson seems disposed to accept the etymology as probable. See LHEB 536-39 for the complex phonetic investigation involved. The development of Loxa to modem Lossie, if correct, occurred within later Goidelic rather than within British speech, for in Goidelic /ks/ > /s/.

IDENTIFICATION. The river Lossie, Moray.

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Observation JC Even : 

* Ordnance Survey : Map of Roman Britain. 1956.

* A.L.F RIVET & C. SMITH : The Place-names of Roman Britain. Batsford Ltd. London. 1979-1982.

Liens electroniques des sites Internet traitant de la rivière Lossie / Loxa : 

hast buan, ma mignonig vas vite, mon petit ami

go fast, my little friend