View source for Tiber

==Etymology==
The genesis of the name ''Tiber'' probably was pre-Latin, like the Roman name of Tibur (modern [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]]), and may be [[Italic languages|Italic]] in origin. The same root is found in the Latin ''[[praenomen]]'' ''[[Tiberius (praenomen)|Tiberius]]''. Also, [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] variants of this praenomen are in ''Thefarie'' (borrowed from [[Faliscan language|Faliscan]] ''*Tiferios'', lit. '(He) from the Tiber' < ''*Tiferis'' 'Tiber') and ''Teperie'' (via the Latin hydronym ''Tiber'').<ref name="everett">"Tiber". ''Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names''. [[John Everett-Heath]]. [[Oxford University Press]] 2005.</ref><ref>George Davis Chase, "The Origin of Roman Praenomina", in ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'', vol. VIII (1897)</ref>

Legendary king [[Tiberinus Silvius|Tiberinus]], ninth in the king-list of [[Alba Longa]], was said to have drowned in the River Albula, which was afterwards called ''Tiberis''.<ref name="everett"/> The myth may have explained a memory of an earlier, perhaps [[Proto-Indo-European language|pre-Indo-European]] name for the river, "white" (''alba'') with sediment, or "from the mountains" from [[Pre-Indo-European languages|pre-Indo-European]] word "alba, albion" mount, elevated area.<ref>Cf. e.g. G. Alessio "Studi storico-linguisitci messapici" in ''Archivio Storico Pugliese'' p. 304; "Sul nome di Brindisi" in ''Archivio Storico Puglese'' VIII 1955 p. 211 f.; "Apulia et Calabria nel quadro della toponomastica mediterranea" in ''Atti del VII Congresso Internazionale di Studi Onomastici'' Firenze 1962 p. 85.</ref> ''Tiberis/Tifernus'' may be a pre-Indo-European substrate word related to [[Tyrsenian languages#Aegean language family|Aegean]] ''tifos'' "still water", Greek [[phytonym]] ''τύφη'' a kind of swamp and river bank weed (''[[Typha angustifolia]]''), [[Iberian language|Iberian]] [[hydronym]]s ''Tibilis'', ''Tebro'' and [[Numidian language|Numidian]] ''Aquae Tibilitanae''.<ref>G. Simonetta "La stratificazione linguistica dell' Agro Falisco" p. 6 citing G. Alessio.</ref> Yet another etymology is from *dubri-, water, considered by Alessio as [[Sicel]], whence the form Θύβρις later Tiberis. This root *dubri- is widespread in Western Europe e.g. Dover, Portus Dubris.<ref>G. Alessio "Problemi storico-linguistici messapici" in ''Studi Salentini'' '''12''' 1962 p. 304.</ref>