Sequana

Latin

Etymology

Of Celtic origin, the river name is from Gaulish Sequana, a water goddess later incorporated into Gallo-Roman culture. The name's origin is uncertain, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *seykʷ- (“to pour, spill, trickle”).^[1] However, since Gaulish was largely a P-Celtic language, the q may not represent Indo-European -kʷ- but rather an original form like *Sek-ooana-. Therefore, the Gaulish name could be from a pre-Celtic hydronym.^[2]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈseː.kʷa.na]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛː.kʷa.na]

Proper noun

Sēquana f sg or m sg (genitive Sēquanae); first declension

The Seine (a major river in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est, Île-de-France and Normandy regions, France)
- c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1:
  Gallōs ab Aquītānīs Garumna flūmen, ā Belgīs Mātrona et Sēquana dīvidit.
  The river Garonne separates the Gauls from the Aquitani; the Marne and the Seine separate them from the Belgians.

Declension

First-declension noun, singular only.

	singular
nominative	Sēquana
genitive	Sēquanae
dative	Sēquanae
accusative	Sēquanam
ablative	Sēquanā
vocative	Sēquana

Descendants

Late Latin: Sēcona, Sēgona
- French: Seine
- → Proto-West Germanic: *Sīganu, *Sīgunu
  - Old English: Sīgen
  - Old Saxon: Sīgana
  - Old High German: Sīgona, Sīgana
- Sicilian: Sigona

References

^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 893-94
^ Pierre-Yves Lambert, La langue gauloise, éditions Errance 1994, p. 131.