Kennet

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A river in southern England that flows eastward through Wiltshire and Berkshire before joining the Thames near Reading
2. A waterway in southern England, a tributary of the River Thames that runs through Wiltshire and Berkshire
3. The English river flowing through the Berkshire and Wiltshire countryside into the Thames at Reading

Etymology: The River Kennet, a chalk stream in southern England that flows past Marlborough and Newbury to join the Thames, takes its name from an Old English-era root that has nothing to do with water. The word traces back to Old French "chenet," a small dog or hound, the same family that gave English "kennel" and, through the Latin "canis," "canine." Rivers were often named for animals or qualities, and a stream called after a little dog suggests a local feature or association rather than any hunting connection the name itself records. The shared ancestry with "kennel" is the surprising link here. A kennel was originally a shelter for hounds, and the river shares its root with that dog word rather than with anything about water or wetness, so the name is a reminder that English place names often preserve vocabulary long since lost from ordinary speech.