Well, Wellspring, White Water, Winterbourne: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning River, Lake

The natural features of a region are its topography. The word comes from Greek topos ("place").

Topographic features include rivers, streams, lakes, and related freshwater bodies. Freshwater features have acquired a wide range of colorful names.

In the current alphabetic series of words that refer to such features, here are the origins, forms, and histories of well, wellspring, white water, and winterbourne. The dates of forms and meanings come from the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Well
Modern English well goes back through Middle English well and welle to Old English well, welle, and wella (all three before 12th century). The word is akin to Old English weallan ("to bubble, boil") and Old High German wella ("wave").

A spring of water rising to the surface of the earth, or a pool or flowing of water fed by such a spring, is called a well (9th century).

The word well also denotes a pit or hole sunk into the ground to reach spring water (10th century).

Wellspring
Modern English wellspring goes back to various Old English forms, such as wyllspring, wylspring, welspring, and welspryng (all before 12th century). The forms are compound words built from wylle, welle, or well ("well") plus spring.

A wellspring is a fountainhead, that is, a spring that is the source of a stream (c. 1000).

White Water
White water (1586) is frothy water, such as the foamy water churned up on a river by breakers, rapids, or falls.

Winterbourne
Modern English winterbourne goes back to Old English winterburna (before 12th century), from winter plus burna ("burn," that is, a spring, fountain, stream, or river).

Winterbourne originated during the Old English period as a place-name for various localities in southern England (10th century). Many such names still exist, such as those for the villages of Winterbourne in Berkshire and Winterbourne in Gloucestershire.

In modern use as a common noun, winterbourne denotes a stream that flows only or mainly in the winter (1851). The term is most often used in reference to any of the many intermittent streams found in the chalk districts of southern England, such as those in the famed white chalk cliffs rising above the town and seaport of Dover.
_______________________________

Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.