From: "Kestutis Zemaitis" <kestutis5@hotmail.com>
To: fgiusepp2@tin.it
Subject: Nahar, Nera and Neris
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:51:02 -0400

Dear Giuseppe,

As I am waiting for your booklet about Beata Lucia which my brother sent me on October 5th I also read your article about the word NAHAR meaning "river" in the Holy Scripture, and NAHARNA - "the river land".

Did you know that NERIS is one of the two largest rivers of Lithuania? Could there also be some connection with NAHAR, and with the river NERA of Narni? It is one of the ancient Indoeuropean water names related to Lithuanian word NARUS - "deep" and NERTI - "to dive, to swim under water". I do not know much about etymology but here is a little passage about NERIS in "Wikipedia":

"Etymologically, the name [Neris] is one of a class of water names, including Lithuanian Narotis, Narasa (rivers), Narutis (lake), Old Prussian Narus (the Narew), the Nara (near Moscow) and many others over the prehistoric Baltic range. These are related to Lithuanian narus, "deep", and nerti, "to dive".
More remote connections are obscure, although the root is believed to be Indoeuropean. There are a number of possibilities; perhaps Pokorny's 2nd *ner- "under" (Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch, pp 765-766), perhaps Derksen's *nerH-, o-grade *norH- (Slavic Inherited Lexicon), perhaps a relation to the Greek god, Nereus, which may be from *snau-, "to give milk to", in the sense of "flow" (Partridge, Origins (1983)".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neris

Hopefully you will find this interesting or may be even helpful in your research!
With my best wishes,
Kestutis

.

Narva (historical German name Narwa) is an Estonian city located on the Russian border. The Narva River, which drains Lake Peipus, flows through the city. As of January 1, 2004 it has a population of 67,355. The total area is 84.54 km² which gives a population density of 796.7 inhabitants per km².

93.85% of the current population of Narva are Russian-speakers (86.41% are ethnic Russians), mostly either Soviet-era immigrants from parts of the former U.S.S.R. (mainly Russia) or their descendants. Much of the city was destroyed during World War II and for several years during the following reconstruction the Soviet authorities prohibited the return of any of Narva's pre-war residents (among whom ethnic Estonians had been the majority) thus radically altering the city's ethnic composition.

The reconstructed fortress of Narva (to the left) overlooking the Russian fortress of Ivangorod (to the right).

Founded during the Danish rule of northern Estonia in the 13th century, the castle and surrounding town of Narva became a possession of the Livonian Order after 1347. Captured briefly by Russians in 1555, Narva changed hands a few times, and after 1581 was controlled by Sweden. The city was reconquered by Russia in 1704 and remained in the Russian Empire until Estonian independence in 1918. Across the Narva River there is a Russian Ivangorod fortress, founded by Great Duke Ivan III of Muscovy in 1492 and sometimes referred to as Counter-Narva. During the Soviet times Narva and Ivangorod were twin cities, despite belonging to different republics. Before World War II, Ivangorod (in Estonian known as Jaanilinn) was part of Narva.

The famous Estonian chess player Paul Keres was born in Narva.

The Narva or Narova is a river which drains the Lake Peipus, flowing on the border of Estonia and Russia. It flows through the cities of Narva/Ivangorod and Narva-Jõesuu into Narva Bay, a part of the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. The Narva Reservoir, a large artificial lake (191 km²), was formed on the river in 1956. The length of the river is 75 km, average width 300 metres and depth 5 metres. The largest tributary is the Plyussa River.

The river gives its name to the Narva culture.

Narva culture, ca. 5th to 4th millennium BC, an archaeological culture found in present-day Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kaliningrad Oblast (former East Prussia), and adjacent portions of Poland and Russia. It is said to be a successor of the mesolithic Kunda culture. Named after the Narva River, it encompasses the whole of the European Neolithic down to the start of the bronze age. The technology was that of flint-based hunter-gatherers, with pottery related to the Pit-Comb Ware culture.

By the time of the Corded Ware culture, two distinct variants are recognized, one to the northeast, and another in the southwest, with the latter displaying characteristics of the earlier Funnelbeaker culture and then Corded Ware and Globular Amphora cultural elements, all of which may be seen as intrusive, and possibly, short-lived.

The northeastern variant seems to have remained largely independent: the impression is that this northeastern version was autochthonous; while nothing can be proven, it is inviting to assume it was Uralic-speaking, and that the present-day Estonians are in some manner descended from it.

The southwestern elements, then, can perhaps be identified with the earliest stratum of Baltic Indo-European culture, and ancestral to the Latvians, Lithuanians, and the now-extinct Old Prussians.

[edit]

1. Algirdas Girinikas, "The Narva Culture and the Origin of the Baltic Culture", pp. 42-47.
2. Rimute Rimantiene & Gintautas Cesnys, "The Pan-European Corded Ware Horizon (A-Horizon) and the Pamariu (Baltic Coastal) Culture", pp. 48-53.
3. Ilze Loze, "Some Remarks about the Indo-Europeanization of the Northern Baltic Europe (in the Case of the Eastern Baltic Region)". pp. 59-77.

By archaeological data, two stages or separate time periods in the development of the Narva culture can be distinquished in the prehistoric northern East Baltic. One stage is in the Early Neolithic, when the Early Narva culture was spread throughout the territory of present-day Estonia, Leningrad, Pskov and the western Smolensk area. It is possible that the Balto-finnougric hydronyms that linguists encounter in the territories of Estonia, Leningrad and Novgorod area from this time period.

During the second time period in the East Baltic, two distinct processes occurred. In the Middle Neolithic, north of the Daugava River and right up to Finland Bay, the Finno-Ugrians adopted many features of material and spiritual culture from the people of the Narva culture while they were spreading their own influence.We can consider this period the early pro-Baltic period, when the Finno-Ugrians adopted many elements of Narva material culture and enriched their lexican with the langua-ge of Narva material culture peoples. We can call this time period the Finno-Ugrinization period of the northern Narva culture

The total length is 225 km, of which 203 km in Herzegovina, while the final 22 km are in the Dubrovnik-Neretva county of Croatia.

The upper stream of Neretva has water of Class A purity and is almost certainly the coldest river water in the world, often as low as 7-8 degrees Celsius in the summer months. Neretva also has some endemic and very delicate, fragile life forms that are near extinction.

Neretva originates deep in the Dinaric Alps and flows through them creating a large gorge. It eventually expands into a wide valley which provides valuable agricultural land. There exists a large accumulation lake near Jablanica, created on the Neretva and at least three hydroelectric dams between Jablanica and Mostar.

The Bosnian government has recently made serious plans to allow foreign investors to build several more dams in upper stream and destroy the canyon by flooding it. This is protested by environmentalists who wish for the canyon, considered at least as beautiful as the Tara canyon in the nearby Montenegro, to remain untouched as it has so far.

The Old Bridge (also Stari most), a major architectural monument over Neretva in Mostar and a World Heritage Site, was destroyed by Croatian shelling during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina on November 9, 1993. The bridge was rebuilt and the grand opening was held on July 23, 2004.

Amici del Nara SA

CH-6716 Leontica (TI)

tel: +41 (0)91 871 11 11

A number of options are available to travel from the Gold Coast or Brisbane airports to Sea World Nara Resort.

Our Tour Desk or Concierge will book and confirm transfers for you. Simply send through your flight details via email to tours@seaworldnara.com.au or phone the details to us on 07 5591 0093. Remember to keep us informed should any of your arrival or departure times and dates alter.

Naro-Fominsk was established as an urban-type settlement as a result of the merger of the villages of Fominskoye and Malaya Nara in 1925. Town status was granted to it in 1926. The town was severely damaged during World War II, after Nazi Germany forces destroyed 687 buildings and a textile factory.

Narvik

Cttà della Norvegia

Thank you for the very interesting HEOS magazine. And especially for the excellent article about the river names. One question: The Latin name "Nar" is masculine. Is Italian "Nera" feminine? So is "Neris". But Latin Nar (masculine) in Lithuanian would be "Naras" The same as naras=diver or the (diving) bird naras=grebe (podiceps minor).

So now I just wish to answer your questions.

1. More about Lewis and Short: Latin-English Lexicon?
A LATIN DICTIONARY; founded on E.A. Andrew's edition of Freund's Latin-German dictionary. By Charlton Thomas LEWIS (1834-1904) and Charles SHORT(1831-1866). 2019 p. 26 cm
First ed. published in 1850; revised edition 1955. Oxford, Clarendon Press. ISNB: 0198642016. Available from Amazon for 200 dollars.

2. L'autore di: "Solporeas [sulfureas] posuit spiramina Naris ad undas"?
- Quintus Ennius, l. 6. Annalium.
Enn. ap. Prisc. p. 691 P. (Ann. v. 265 Vahl.) probably means: Ennius apud Priscianum Caesarensem (et apud Johannem Vahlen)?

Quintus Ennius (239-169 B.C.), the founder of Roman literature, was an epic poet, dramatist, and satirist. His epic Annales, the story of Rome from Aeneas until Ennius' day, was the national epic until Vergil's Aeneid replaced it.
Priscianus Caesariensis, fl. 500 A.D., Latin grammarian. (Commentarii grammatici in 18 books)
Joannes Vahlen (1830-1911), editor of the Fragments of Ennius, Lucilius, etc.
Vide etiam: Havet, L. (1886), "Ennius apud Priscianum 10, 26", Revue de Philologie, 10, p. 188

A well-laid out picturesque town of Nahan is situated on an isolated ridge in the Shiwalik hills, overlooking green fields. Known for its cleanliness and dust free streets, saints and princes are linked with the origin of Nahan. The city was founded as a capital by Raja Karan Prakash in 1621. Another version recalls a saint who lived with a companionable Nahar on the site where the Nahan palace now stands. "Nahar" means a lion and probably the town takes its name from this saint.

At an altitude of 9,32m, Nahan is a good base for visits to the surrounding pilgrim areas viz. Renuka, Paonta Sahib, Trilokpur temple and the Suketi Fossil Park. It has a pleasant climate throughout the year and is watered by man made lake and decorated with temples and gardens. It is also the headquarter of Sirmaur district.

A river named Euphrates is one of the four rivers that flow from the Garden of Eden according to Genesis 2:14. It is the fourth river, after the Pishon, the Gihon, and the Tigris, to form from the river flowing out of the garden. The river of the same name marked one of the boundaries of the land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants (Isaac, Jacob, etc). In the Hebrew Bible, it is often referred to simply as "The River" (ha-nahar).

The word Euphrates is a translation for the word "Gush forth" or "break forth". It has always been assumed to mean "river" but this is not explicitly stated. It literally means "breaking forth of liquid". The river Euphrates was named from this root word, "To gush forth".

In the Book of Revelation, it is prophesied that in the "near future the Potamos Euphrates or "breaking forth like water" of the middle east will dry up in preparation for the Battle of Armageddon.