Besokan river

The Besokan is a major river of the eastern Reknaya and the traditional dividing line between Belkondíl and Old Seligon. With a maximal width of over 300 elôrini, it is considered Elondor’s widest river.

Etymology and Names

The name Besokan is of Olgish origin, most likely related to Besok, an ethnonym for to the inhabitants of the Besokan Valley and possibly the lands to its west (largely Soskish and Reknayan populations). The term means ‘gift people’ or ‘fee people’, referring either to valuable gifts brought to Belkdondíl by Soskish merchants or to their function as merceraries, notably as hired cavalrists, in the Olgish kingdoms. The ending -an is a commonly found Olgish nominalizer, or could be a related to the root *an- ‘to proceed, progress’, referring either to the river itself or demarking the area the Besok came from. The term is found denoting the border, or possibly a country, between Belkondíl and (Old) Seligon in the earlier Olgish writings (c. 700 B.E.B.) and by the end Olgish Expansion had been established as the general name for the river.

The native Besokian term was *Kô-Nôwis or *Kô-Nôwisten ‘Great Mother’, hence Soskish Kônovec, thought to refer to the river’ significance to early Besokian culture. The Besokian languages were in turn named after the Besokan.