The Roman Map of Britain  Vidumanis River Blackwater, Essex

EidoumanioV Eidumanis, vars. SidoumanioV Sidumanis, Idoumaniou Idumanii, Eidoumania Eidumania, Eidoumaniou Eidumanii (Ptolemy II 3 4)

    Bradley's identification with the Blackwater is correct, contrary to Ekwall.

    Bede III 22 , all 8th century copies, reads: in ripa Pentæ amnis vars. Paente, Pante, Pente, Pe(cedilla)tæ, Paentae. Obviously something was not clear in the original manuscript. The Pe-, and variants, can be explained as dittography. This leaves ntæ amnis, and variants, which could be *uitamanis. Witham (town) is recorded as Wiðma ca.1025. Whether the name Pant, the upper part of the Blackwater, is simply W pant 'valley' or not is unknown. It could be a coincidence, I might be completely wrong, or the forms found in Bede influenced the river name.