The Seman is a major river in western

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the ...

. It is formed by the confluence of the rivers Devoll and

Osum The Osum is a river in southern Albania, one of the source rivers of the Seman. It is long and its drainage basin is . Its average discharge is . Its source is in the southwestern part of the Korçë County, near the village Vithkuq at an altit ...

, a few km west of Kuçovë. It is long ( with its longest source river Devoll) and its drainage basin is . Its average discharge is . It meanders generally westwards through a flat lowland. Near

Fier Fier (; sq-definite, Fieri) is the seventh most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Fier County and Fier Municipality. It is situated on the bank of Gjanica River in the Myzeqe Plain between the Seman in the north, the Vjo ...

it receives Gjanica from the left. It flows into the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

at the southern margin of the Divjakë-Karavasta National Park.

Name

classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...

, the Seman River was known as the ''Apsus'', which is a derivative of the

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, ...

root ''*ăp-'' "water, river". The Illyrian hydronym ''Apsus'', corresponds to ''Apsias'', a river name in southern Italy brought by Illyrian migrations (

Iapygians The Iapygians or Apulians (; el, Ἰάπυγες, ''Ĭāpyges''; la, Iāpyges, Iapygii, Umbrian ''Iabuscer'') were an Indo-European-speaking people, dwelling in an eponymous region of the southeastern Italian Peninsula named Iapygia (modern Ap ...

) in the region. The contemporary Albanian name ''Seman/Semen'' ( definite form: ''Semani/Semeni''), which is used to indicate the lower course of the river, evolved from ''*Apson-'' through Albanian phonetic changes. Also the contemporary Albanian name ''

'' (definite form: ''Osumi''), which is used to indicate the lower course of the river, evolved from ''*Apsōn(em)'', but through Bulgarian phonetic changes.

References

Rivers of Albania Geography of Berat County Geography of Fier County {{Albania-river-stub