Tarras Water

Tarras Water is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

R.H. Traquair named a fossil of an extinct, prehistoric ray-finned fish Tarrasius problematicus after the Tarras Water.^[1] The name has subsequently been applied to the genus Tarrasiidae and the order Tarrasiiformes.

The Tarras Water

Etymology

The name Tarras is of Brittonic origin.^[2] It is derived from the elements *tā-, with a root sense of "melting, thawing, dissolving" (Latin tābeō, "melt")^[2] and -ar, an adjectival suffix frequently occurring in river-names (Welsh -ar),^[2] with the Scots plural -s.^[2]

Course

The Tarras Water rises to the west of Roan Fell,^[3] near the boundary with the Scottish Borders. It flows over 11 miles (17 km) south to join the River Esk 2 miles (3 km) south of Langholm opposite Auchenrivock.^[3]

Poetry

Tarras Water was a nature poem by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson.^[4]