Contents

Danube

Danube
The Danube in Budapest
Course of the Danube
Native name	Donau (German) Dunaj (Slovak) Duna (Hungarian) Dunav (Croatian) Дунав (Serbian) Дунав (Bulgarian) Dunărea (Romanian) Дунай (Ukrainian)
Location
Countries	Germany Austria Slovakia Hungary Croatia Serbia Bulgaria Romania Moldova Ukraine
Cities	Ulm Ingolstadt Regensburg Passau Linz Vienna Bratislava Győr Komárom Budapest Dunaújváros Mohács Apatin Vukovar Ilok Bačka Palanka Novi Sad Sremski Karlovci Belgrade Pančevo Smederevo Drobeta-Turnu Severin Vidin Giurgiu Ruse Silistra Călărași Brăila Galați Reni Izmail Kiliia Tulcea Sulina
Physical characteristics
Source	Breg
• location	Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• coordinates	48°05′44″N 08°09′18″E / 48.09556°N 8.15500°E / 48.09556; 8.15500
• elevation	1,078 m (3,537 ft)
2nd source	Brigach
• location	St. Georgen im Schwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• coordinates	48°06′24″N 08°16′51″E / 48.10667°N 8.28083°E / 48.10667; 8.28083
• elevation	940 m (3,080 ft)
Source confluence
• location	Donaueschingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• coordinates	47°57′03″N 08°31′13″E / 47.95083°N 8.52028°E / 47.95083; 8.52028
Mouth	Danube Delta
• location	Romania
• coordinates	45°13′3″N 29°45′41″E / 45.21750°N 29.76139°E / 45.21750; 29.76139
Length	2,850 km (1,770 mi)[1]
Basin size	801,463 km2 (309,447 sq mi)[2]
Width
• minimum	Middle Danube (Iron Gates) 150 m (490 ft); Lower Danube (Brăila) 400 m (1,300 ft)[3]
• average	Upper Danube 300 m (980 ft); Middle Danube 400 m (1,300 ft) to 800 m (2,600 ft); Lower Danube 900 m (3,000 ft) to 1,000 m (3,300 ft)[4][3][2]
• maximum	Middle Danube 1,500 m (4,900 ft); Lower Danube 1,700 m (5,600 ft)[2][3]
Depth
• minimum	1 m (3 ft 3 in) (Upper Danube)[2]
• average	Upper Danube 8 m (26 ft); Middle Danube 6 m (20 ft) to 10 m (33 ft), 53 m (174 ft) (Iron Gates); Lower Danube 9 m (30 ft)[4][3][2][5]
• maximum	Middle Danube (Iron Gates) 90 m (300 ft); Lower Danube 34 m (112 ft)[3]
Discharge
• location	Before the Danube Delta
• average	(Period: 1999–2023) 6,484.3 m3/s (228,990 cu ft/s)[7][2] (Period: 1840–2006) 6,471 m3/s (228,500 cu ft/s)[4] (Period: 1931–2010) 6,510 m3/s (230,000 cu ft/s)[6] (Period: 1970–2015) 6,546 m3/s (231,200 cu ft/s)[8]
• minimum	1,790 m3/s (63,000 cu ft/s)[6]
• maximum	15,900 m3/s (560,000 cu ft/s)[6]
Discharge
• location	Belgrade, Serbia
• average	5,600 m3/s (200,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge
• location	Budapest, Hungary
• average	2,350 m3/s (83,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge
• location	Vienna, Austria
• average	1,900 m3/s (67,000 cu ft/s)
Discharge
• location	Passau, Bavaria, Germany 30 km (19 mi) before town
• average	580 m3/s (20,000 cu ft/s)

v t e Danube summary route map
Legend
km 2860 Source at Donaueschingen 2587 Limit of navigation at Ulm 2458 Ingolstadt 2411 Rhine–Main–Danube Canal 2376 Regensburg 2226 River Inn Germany Austria 2128 Linz 1918 Vienna Austria Slovakia River Morava 1867 Bratislava Slovakia Hungary 1794 Győr 1639 Budapest 1579 Dunaújváros Hungary Croatia 1433 Hungary Serbia 1425 Danube–Tisa–Danube Canal 1424 Bezdan Bridge 1382 River Drava 1367 Bogojevo Road Bridge 1366 Bogojevo Railway Bridge 1335 Vukovar 1297 Ilok–Bačka Palanka Bridge Croatia Serbia 1296 inSerbia 1258 Liberty Bridge 1255 Varadin Bridge 1254 Novi Sad 1254 Žeželj Bridge 1253 Danube–Tisa–Danube Canal 1232 Beška Bridge 1215 River Tisza 1176 Pupin Bridge 1173 Zemun 1170 River Sava 1169 Belgrade 1167 Pančevo Bridge 1153 Pančevo 1104 River Great Morava 1116 Smederevo 1113 Pipeline bridge 1112 Kovin Bridge 1077 Danube–Tisa–Danube Canal 1076 Serbia Romania 943 Iron Gate I 930 Drobeta-Turnu Severin 863 Iron Gate II Serbia Bulgaria 846 796 New Europe Bridge River Olt 495 Ruse 489 Danube Bridge Bulgaria Romania 300 Anghel Saligny Bridge 300 Cernavodă Bridge 238 Giurgeni–Vadu Oii Bridge Romania Moldova Moldova Ukraine Danube Delta (Romania/Ukraine) 0 Black Sea
Note: Distances are in kilometers, rounded to the nearest kilometer. Waterway distances are shown, not towpath distances. Country capitals are shown in bold.

The Danube (/ˈdæn.juːb/ DAN-yoob; see also other names) is the second-longest riverinEurope, after the VolgainRussia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important river, it was once a frontier of the Roman Empire. In the 21st century, it connects ten European countries, running through their territories or marking a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. Among the many cities on the river are four national capitals: Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest, and Belgrade. Its drainage basin amounts to 817,000 km² (315,000 sq mi) and extends into nine more countries.

The Danube's longest headstream Breg rises in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald, while the river carries its name from its source confluence in the palace parkinDonaueschingen onwards. Since ancient times, the Danube has been a traditional trade route in Europe. Today, 2,415 km (1,501 mi) of its total length are navigable. The Danube is linked to the North Sea via the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, connecting the Danube at Kelheim with the MainatBamberg. The river is also an important source of hydropower and drinking water.

The Danube river basin is home to such fish species as pike, zander, huchen, Wels catfish, burbot and tench. It is also home to numerous diverse carp and sturgeon, as well as salmon and trout. A few species of euryhaline fish, such as European seabass, mullet, and eel, inhabit the Danube Delta and the lower portion of the river.

Names and etymology[edit]

Name history[edit]

..."The Istros river arises among the Celts and the polisofPyrene, cutting Europe across the middle" — Herodotus (c.484–c.425 BC).^[a]

Today the river carries its name from its source confluence in Donaueschingen, Germany, to its discharge into the Black Sea via the Danube DeltainRomania and Ukraine.

The river was known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros (Ἴστρος)^[10] from a root possibly also encountered in the ancient name of the Dniester (Danaster in Latin, Tiras in Greek) and akin to Iranic turos 'swift' and Sanskrit iṣiras (इषिरस्) 'swift', from the PIE *isro-, *sreu 'to flow'.^[11]

In the Middle Ages, the Greek Tiras was borrowed into Italian as Tyrlo and into Turkic languages as Tyrla; the latter was further borrowed into Romanian as a regionalism (Turlă).^[11]

The Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas,^[12] "the bringer of luck".^[13]

The Middle Mongolian name for the Danube was transliterated as Tho-na in 1829 by Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat.^[14]

See also Wiktionary:

1. Latin: Danubius, Dānuvius; Ister.
2. English: Danube.

Modern name[edit]

The modern languages spoken in the Danube basin all use names related to Latin: Danubius:

Etymology[edit]

Danube is an Old European river name derived from the Celtic 'danu' or 'don'^[17] (both Celtic gods), which itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European *deh₂nu. Other European river names from the same root include the Dunaj, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr, Dysna and Tana/Deatnu. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, danu (दनु) means "fluid, dewdrop" and danuja (दनु-ज) means "born from danu" or "born from dew-drops". In Avestan, the same word means "river". The Finnish word for Danube is Tonava, which is most likely derived from the name of the river in German, Donau. Its Sámi name Deatnu means "Great River". It is possible that dānuinScythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": Dnieper and Dniestr, from Danapris and Danastius, are presumed to continue Scythian *dānu apara "far river" and *dānu nazdya- "near river", respectively.^[18]

In Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius, Ister^[19]orHister. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, except Slovene (the name of the Rhine is also masculine in Latin, most of the Slavic languages, as well as in German). The German Donau (Early Modern German Donaw, Tonaw,^[20] Middle High German Tuonowe)^[21] is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe "wetland".

Romanian differs from other surrounding languages in designating the river with a feminine term, Dunărea (IPA: [ˈdunəre̯a]).^[11] This form was not inherited from Latin, although Romanian is a Romance language.^[15] To explain the loss of the Latin name, scholars who suppose that Romanian developed near the large river propose^[15] that the Romanian name descends from a hypothetical Thracian *Donaris. The Proto-Indo-European root of this presumed name is related to the Iranic word "don-"/"dan-", while the supposed suffix -aris is encountered in the ancient name of the Ialomița River, Naparis, and in the unidentified Miliare river mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica.^[11] Gábor Vékony says that this hypothesis is not plausible, because the Greeks borrowed the Istros form from the native Thracians.^[15] He proposes that the Romanian name is a loanword from a Turkic language (CumanorPecheneg).^[15]