Gail (, ) is the name of a river in southern

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, the largest right tributary of the

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is .

Etymology

The name ''Gail'' developed from

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

''Gîla'', in turn from the form ''*Gīla'' (which was also the source of the Slovene name ''Zilja''). It is likely that the name is of substrate origin, predating the Roman presence in the area. The name is believed to derive from the pre-Romance word ''*gai̯li̯a'' (from the Indo-European root ''*gʰoi̯lo-''), meaning 'foaming (water), powerful'. The river is documented as ''Gila'' in a 1090 deed. The Slovene name ''Zilja'' is also commonly cited because the lower Gail Valley is a traditional settlement area of the

Carinthian Slovenes Carinthian Slovenes or Carinthian Slovenians (; ; ) are the Indigenous peoples, indigenous minority of Slovenes, Slovene ethnicity, living within borders of the Austrian state of Carinthia, neighboring Slovenia. Their status of the minority group ...

and a language region of the distinct

Gail Valley dialect The Gail Valley dialect (, ''ziljščina''Logar, Tine. 1996. ''Dialektološke in jezikovnozgodovinske razprave''. Ljubljana: SAZU) is the westernmost Slovene dialect in the Carinthian dialect group, spoken in parts of southern Carinthia in Austri ...

Course

The river source is located east of the Kartitsch Saddle and the

Puster Valley The Puster Valley ( ; , ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The South Tyrolean municipalities of th ...

in the Tyrolean municipality of

Obertilliach Obertilliach is a municipality in the district of Lienz District, Lienz, in the Austria, Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. Geography It is located in East Tyrol, in a high valley of the upper Gail (river), Gail River east of the Kartitsch ...

. It flows from west to east through the

Southern Limestone Alps The Southern Limestone Alps (, ), also called the Southern Calcareous Alps, are the mountain range, ranges of the Eastern Alps south of the Central Eastern Alps mainly located in northern Italy and the adjacent lands of Austria and Slovenia. The ...

, between the

Gailtal Alps The Gailtal Alps ( or ''Drauzug''), is a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria. It rises between the River Drava (''Drau'') and the Gail (river), Gail valley (in southwestern Carinthia (state), Carinthia) and through the southe ...

in the north and the

Carnic Alps The Carnic Alps (; ; ; ) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria and northeastern Italy. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Italian Friuli (Province of Udine) and marginally in Veneto. Etymology They are ...

in the south. The river reaches the state of

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

in Lesachtal and from Kötschach-Mauthen runs down the broader Gail Valley () with its steep slopes, parallel to the borders with

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. Beyond its confluence with the Slizza () tributary in

Arnoldstein Arnoldstein (, ) is a market town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Location Arnoldstein is located at Austria's southern border between the Carnic Alps and the Karawanken mountain range, near the c ...

, the Gail joins the Drava River beneath the western

Karawanks The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks (; , ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west direction, the Karawanks chain is o ...

mountain range near the village of Maria Gail, part of the city of

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 61,887. Together wit ...

Following the 1348 Friuli earthquake, the river's course near Villach was buried by a major landslide, causing extensive flooding. The rockslide region () along a length of is still discernible on the steep slopes of Mt. Dobratsch north of

. While the upper river course is largely preserved in its natural condition, a habitat for

shorebirds FIle:Vadare - Ystad-2021.jpg, 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, forage for food c ...

like the common sandpiper, the

white-throated dipper The white-throated dipper (''Cinclus cinclus''), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspecies ...

and the grey wagtail, large parts of the lower Gail have been gradually regulated since the 1870s. In recent times, some sections have been renaturated. Today the trout zone reaches up to Hermagor with 17 species, among them

common barbel The common barbel (''Barbus barbus'') is a species of freshwater fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It shares the common name 'barbel' with its many relatives in the genus ''Barbus'', of which it is the type species. In Great Britain it is ...

, the common nase, and the rare souffia.

Tributaries

* (left) * Slizza (right)

Municipalities

References

External links

Entry
at

Aeiou Encyclopedia Austria-Forum is a freely accessible online collection of reference works on Austria in German language, German, with some articles in English language, English, initiated by Graz University of Technology, TU Graz. As of 2022, Austria-Forum has be ...

{{Authority control Rivers of Tyrol (federal state) Rivers of Carinthia Rivers of Austria