Abstract

Tracing the history of the expression “the + river name,” the present paper argues, among other things, that (a) the type without the or river (e.g., Euphrates) precedes the type with the or river (e.g., the (river of) Euphrates), (b) the type placing River after the river name (e.g., the Mississippi River) can be traced back to 17th century American English, and (c) river names came to take the regularly only in the latter half of the 19th century.