* A.L.F Rivet & Colin Smith : The Place-Names of Roman Britain. p. 474.

SOURCE

Ptolemy II, 3, 2 : Toubiou potamou ekbolai (=TUBII FLUVII OSTIA), vars. Tobiou (= TOBII; MS U, and preferred by Müller), Toibiou ( = TOEBII), Touboua (= TUBUA)

DERIVATION : "Jackson LHEB 351 thinks the British name was *Touios, presumably a root plus the common *io- suffix; from this derives modem Welsh Tywi (English Towy). Our preferred form of the old name represents this. Holder II.1900 lists a single parallel, an assumed *Toviacum based on *Touios, > Tubize (Brabant, Belgium). A possible root in 'Ligurian' is mentioned by Rostaing ETP 260 : *tob- *tov-, variants of *teba 'pierre, roche, motte de terre', with *tob- by an evolution of sense passing perhaps from 'pente, ravin' to a meaning 'creux', which might then presumably apply to a river-bed and then suit the present name. Whether this *tob-/*tov- variation could explain the b- in all Ptolemy's forms is hard to say; b and v were not confused in British, and the period of Ptolemy's sources (first century A.D.) is probably too early for b/v confusion in Vulgar Latin. In any case we must regard the relationship with a 'Ligurian' root as most tenuous when there seem to be no representatives of it in Insular Celtic words and a single uncertain place-name of Gaulish origin, so the etymology and meaning are best left unresolved".

IDENTIFICATION. The river Tywi (Towy), Carmarthenshire.

* Ordnance Survey : Map of roman Britain. 1956.

* Bartholomew Half Inch Map series. n° 11, Pembroke, n° 17 : Cardigan.

* A.L.F RIVET & C. SMITH : The Place-names of Roman Britain. 

Liens électroniques des sites Internet traitant du fleuve Tywi / Towy / Tovius : 

* forum du site Marikavel : Academia Celtica

hast buan, ma mignonig vas vite, mon petit ami

go fast, my little friend