Etymology

Severn

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Today it means: A river in England and Wales that flows into the Bristol Channel. Full definition →

Middle English Severne ← Old English Sæfern ← Proto-Celtic *Sabrinā
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The story

  1. Proto-Celtic · derived from*Sabrinā
  2. Old English · inherited fromSæfern
  3. Middle English · inherited fromSeverne
  4. English todaySevern

From Middle English Severne, from Old English Sæfern, ultimately from Proto-Celtic *Sabrinā (compare Welsh Hafren), perhaps from *samaros (“summer fallow”). Doublet of Sabrina.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.