The Avestan common noun "āpas" corresponds exactly to Vedic Sanskrit "Ap (water)", and both derive from the same proto-Indo-Iranian word, stem "*ap-" "water", cognate with the British river Avon. In both Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit texts, the waters—whether as waves or drops, or collectively as streams, pools, rivers or wells—are represented by the Apas, the group of divinities of the waters. The identification of divinity with element is complete in both cultures : in the RigVeda the divinities are wholesome to drink, in the Avesta the divinities are good to bathe in.