The Warnow () is a river in the state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It flows into the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

near the town of

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

, in its borough

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow (river ...

. The source of the Warnow is in Grebbin, a small village north of

Parchim Parchim (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch: ''Parchen'') is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of Helmuth von Moltke the Elde ...

, at the western end of the

Mecklenburg Lake District The Mecklenburg Lake Plateau or Mecklenburg Lakeland
- Federal Ministry of Economics ...

. It flows north through Sternberg,

Bützow Bützow is a town in the district of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany, centered on Bützower See. History The town was first mentioned in 1171. From 1815 to 1918 Bützow was part of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schw ...

and

Schwaan Schwaan is a municipality in the Rostock district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is also the seat of the Schwaan Township, serving another six municipalities. The town is famous for being a traditional art colony. Geography The area a ...

before reaching Rostock. In 2003, Germany's first modern toll road, the

Warnow Tunnel The Warnow Tunnel (also known as the Warnow River Crossing and the Warnowquerung in German) is a road tunnel 790 m long which connects the east and west bank of the Warnow river in the Hanseatic city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. ...

was opened, connecting the port of Rostock on the east bank with the west bank of the river. There is in Indaial, a city of Brazil, a river with the same name. When

Hermann Blumenau Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau (; December 26, 1819October 30, 1899) was a German pharmacist who founded the city of Blumenau, situated in the Itajaí-Açu river valley in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Biography Blumenau was a son o ...

came to America and started to explore the country, he gave this name to the river in the Brazilian city because it resembled the river in Germany.

Names and etymology

The origins of the name are uncertain. Recent work suggests a non-Indo-European (perhaps specifically Hattic) element ''ar(i)n'' ('spring, stream'), giving rise to the Slavic form ''Warnow'' through the prosthesis of /v-/. The

Warnabi The Warnabi, Warnavi, Warnahi, Wranovi, Wranefzi, Wrani, Varnes, or Warnower were a West Slavic tribe of the Obotrite confederation in the ninth through eleventh centuries. They were one of the minor tribes of the confederation living in the Bill ...

, a medieval Slavic tribe, probably derived their name from the Warnow. The ancient geographer Claudius Ptolemäus mentioned a river around 150 CE whose location would correspond to the Warnow, which he called the Χαλοῦσος (Latin: Chalusus). The river also appears in a few medieval sources under names along the lines of ''Goderak'': ''Guðakrsá'' ('God-field's river') in ''

Knýtlinga saga ''Knýtlinga saga'' () is an Icelandic kings' saga written in the 1250s, which deals with the kings who ruled Denmark from the early 10th century to the time when the book was written. There are good reasons to assume that the author was Óláfr ...

'' chapter 119 and Saxo Grammaticus's ''

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

'' in the phrase ''ad Gudacram amnem'' ('to the river Gudacra'; xiv.25.16). Meanwhile, Arnold of Lübeck's ''

Chronica Slavorum The ''Chronica Sclavorum'' or ''Chronicle of the Slavs'' is a medieval chronicle which recounts the pre-Christian culture and religion of the Polabian Slavs, written by Helmold ( – after 1177), a Saxon priest and historian. It describes event ...

'' mentions that

Berno, Apostle of the Obotrites Berno, Bishop of Schwerin, also known as the Apostle of the Obotrites or Berno of Amelungsborn (died 14 January 1191) was a pre-eminent missionary to the Obotrites in the territory of Mecklenburg, Germany, and the first Bishop of Schwerin. Life ...

'pro Gutdracco Godehardum episcopum venerari constituit' ('instituted the veneration of Bishop Godehard in place of Gutdracco'). This Gutdracco is otherwise unknown, and there is some suspicion that the name of this god arose as a folk-etymologisation of the name of the river.Hanswilhelm Haefs, ''Ortsnamen und Ortsgeschichten auf Rügen mitsamt Hiddensee und Mönchgut: Anmerkungen zur Geschichte'' (Books on Demand, 2003), p. 14.

References

Rivers of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Warnow (river) Federal waterways in Germany Rivers of Germany {{Mecklenburg-river-stub