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The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth, it then flows north through Leicester where it is joined by the Grand Union Canal and continues through the Leicestershire Soar Valley, passing Loughborough and Kegworth, until it reaches the Trent at the county boundary. In the 18th century, the Soar was made navigable, initially between Loughborough and the Trent, and then through to Leicester. It was not until the early 19th century that it was linked by the Grand Union Canal to the wider network to the south and to London. ==Name== The name of the ''Soar'' is included in a family of old river-names derived from a root '' *ser-'' "to flow", alongside (among others) ''Saravus'' (''Soar'', a tributary of the Moselle in Belgium), ''Sera'' (''la Serre'', ''la Cère'' and ''le Séran'', three rivers in France), ''Serantia'' (''Sierentz'', Alsace), ''Serma'' (''Schremm'', Brandenburg), ''Sora'' (''Cwm Sorgwm'', Wales), ''Sorna'' (''die Zorn'', Alsace), ''Sara'' (''Saire''), ''Saar(e)'' (Brandenburg), ''Saros'' (''Sar'', Spain), ''Sarius'' (''Serio'', Lombardy), ''Sarià'' (Lithuania), ''Saravus'' (''Saar'', Germany), ''Sarnivos'' (''Sernf'', Glarus), etc.〔"Vorgermanisch/Vorindogermanisch" in: Jankuhn (ed.), ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde'' 32, Walter de Gruyter, 1968, (p. 607 ); also in the Sanskrit river names ''Sarayu, Sarasvati'', etc.〕 According to a suggestion due to William Somner (1701) the Soar river may formerly have been called the ''Leir'', from Brittonic *''Ligera'' or *''Ligora'', cognate with the French ''Loire''. This theory is based on the name of Leicester (as well as Loughborough and the village of Leire) being derived from the name of the river.〔Stevenson, W. H. "A note on the derivation of the name 'Leicester'" in ''The Archaeological Journal'', Vol. 75, pp. 30 f. Royal Archaeological Institute (London), 1918. John Dudley, "Etymology of the Name of Leicester", ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' 184, 1848, (580–582 ), citing Wilford, ''Asiatick Researches'' vol. ii. No. 2 (1812), (p. 45 ): "The learned Somner says that the river which runs by it () was formerly called Leir by the same contraction (Legora ), and it is probably the river Liar of the anonymous geographer. Mr. Somner, if I be not mistaken, places the original own of ''Ligora'' near the source of the Lear, now the Soar".〕〔 Gelling et al. (eds.), ''The names of towns and cities in Britain'', B. T. Batsford, 1970, p. 122.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「River Soar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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