Word History: Ouse is a perfectly appropriate name for a river, but one whose etymological meaning is likely to raise a smile. The name of these two rivers is derived from the Celtic languages that were spoken in England before the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in the British Isles. Their Celtic name, Ūsa, is derived from *udso-, "water," which is in turn derived from the Indo-European root *wed-, "wet, water." The same root *wed- gives us the English words water and wet as well. Thus the Ouse River etymologically is the "Water River" or the "Wet River." Of course, the speakers of early forms of the English language who borrowed the name from the Celts did not know the meaning of the word—as is rather frequently the case when foreign topographical terms are borrowed.