On colour oppositions in Polish hydronymy (running waters)

There are more than 350 fl owing waters in Poland with names containing a colour adjective. Etymological propositions mention sometimes various physical attributes such as the colour of the water or of the bottom, or even a possible symbolical usage connected e.g. with the cardinal directions, but most often they limit themselves to citing the literary version of the adjective, and there end their inquiry. The goal of the present paper is to establish to what degree physical attributes can explain the use of colour epithets; and if they cannot, then whether there is any reason to believe that there existed in the past a more elaborate system of colour symbolism.