t been found. Some personal names like Dubrogenos (son
of the Dubron), Enigenus (son of the Aenus), and the belief of
Virdumarus that one of his ancestors was the Rhine,[603] point to the
idea that river-divinities might have amours with mortals and beget
progeny called by their names. In Ireland, Conchobar was so named from
the river whence his mother Nessa drew water, perhaps because he was a
child of the river-god.[604]

The name of the water-divinity was sometimes given to the place of his
or her cult, or to the towns which sprang up on the banks of rivers--the
divinity thus becoming a tutelary god. Many towns (e.g. Divonne or
Dyonne, etc.) have names derived from a common Celtic river name Deuona,
"divine." This name in various forms is found all over the Celtic
area,[605] and there is little doubt that the Celts, in their onward
progress, named river after river by the name of the same divinity,
believing that each new river was a part of his or her kingdom. The name
was probably first an appellative, then a personal name, the divine
river becoming a divinity. Deus Nemausus occurs on votive tablets at
Nimes, the name Nemausus being that of the clear and abundant spring
there whence flowed the river of the same name. A similar name occurs in
other regions--Nemesa, a tributary of the Moselle; Nemh, the source of
the Tara and the former name of the Blackwater; and Nimis, a Spanish
river mentioned by Appian. Another group includes the Matrona (Marne),
the Moder, the Madder, the Maronne and Maronna, and others, probably
derived from a word signifying "mother."[606] The mother-river was that
which watered a whole region, just as in the Hindu sacred books the
waters are mothers, sources of fertility. The Celtic mother-rivers were
probably goddesses, akin to the _Matres_, givers of plenty and
fertility. In Gaul, Sirona, a river-goddess, is represented like the
_Matres_. She was associated with Grannos, perhaps as his mother, and
Professor Rh[^y]s equates the pair with the Welsh Modron and Mabon;
Modron is probably connected with Matrona.[607] In any case the Celts
regarded rivers as bestowers of life, health, and plenty, and offered
them rich gifts and sacrifices.[608]

Gods like Grannos, Borvo, and others, equated with Apollo, presided over
healing springs, and they are usually associated with goddesses, as
their husbands or sons. But as the goddesses are more numerous, and as
most Celtic river names are feminine, femal