Legend "From where Gomel came"
Legends Of Belarus
Where Gomel now stands, there was once a lot of sand in the middle of the river Sozh. So that the rafts and barges, floating on the river, do not run aground, on the shore at this place always stood a man and warned with a cry:
Go! Mel (which meaned stranded) ! Go! Mel!
From here namer Gomel appeared.