The Orava () is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in north-western
Slovakia
Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
passing through a picturesque country, in the
Orava county. Its source is nowadays the
Orava water reservoir whose waters flooded the confluence of Biela (White) Orava and Čierna (Black) Orava in 1953. It flows into the river
Váh
The Váh (; , ; ; Wag
w Słowniku geograficznym Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (''in Geograph ...
near the village of
Kraľovany. It is long and its basin size is .
Etymology
The name "Orava" may be of Pre-Slavic or
Slavic origin. Pre-Slavic ''*er-/*or-'': fast, swift (swift river).
Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...
''*or-'', ''*orati'': to scream, to roar. Slovak rivers ''Revúca'' and ''Hučava'' have the same etymology (a roaring river). The similar names from other Slavic countries are e.g. the
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n river
Orljava (1234 Orauua), the
Ukrainian river and the village
Oriava or ''Orzawiec'' (in the river system of
Dnieper
The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...
).
The suffix ''-ava'' could be derived from
Germanic ''-ahwa'' (water), but it is typical also for older
Slovak hydronym
A hydronym (from , , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a subset of top ...
s.
The earliest records are ''fl. Arua'' (1287) and ''Oravia'' (1314).
References
External links
Orava on Geonames
Rivers of Slovakia
{{Slovakia-river-stub