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The Danube ( , also known by other names) is Europe's second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe. The Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , passing through or touching the border of Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries. ==Names and etymology== The Latin name ''Dānuvius'' is one of a number of "Old European" river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European '' *dānu''. Other river names from the same root include the Don, Donets, Dzvina/Duna, Dnieper and Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, ''dānu'' means "fluid, drop", in Avestan, the same word means "river". In the Rigveda, ''Dānu'' once appears as the mother of Vrtra. It is possible that ''dānu'' in Scythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": ''Dniepr'' and ''Dniestr'', from ''Danapris'' and ''Danastius'', are presumed to continue Scythian '' *dānu apara'' "far river" and '' *dānu nazdya-'' "near river", respectively.〔Mallory, J.P. and Victor H. Mair. ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West''. London: Thames and Hudson, 2000. p. 106. (Абаев В. И. Осетинский язык и фольклор (Ossetian language and folklore). Moscow: Publishing house of Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1949. P. 236 )〕 The Greek name of the Danube was Ἴστρος (''Istros''), a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning "strong, swift" (akin to Sanskrit ''iṣiras'' "swift").〔 In Latin, the Danube was variously known as ''ラテン語:Danubius, Danuvius'' or as ''ラテン語:Ister''. The Dacian/Thracian name was ''Donaris''/''Donaris'' for the upper Danube and ''Istros'' for the lower Danube.〔Katičić, Radoslav. ''Ancient Languages of the Balkans, Part One''. Paris: Mouton, 1976: 144.〕 The Thraco-Phrygian name was ''Matoas'', "the bringer of luck". The Latin name is masculine (as is the name of the Rhine). German ''Donau'' (Early Modern German ''Donaw, Tonaw'',〔''Tonaw'' in Sebastian Franck, ''Weltbuch'' (1542), (81 ). ''Donaw'' e.g. in Leonhard Thurneisser zum Thurn, ''Pison'' (1572), (186 ); spelling ''Donau'' from the 17th century.〕 Middle High German ''Tuonowe''〔Grimm, ''Deutsche Grammatik'', ( 407 ).〕) is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix ''-ouwe'' "wetland". The modern languages spoken in the Danube basin all use names derived from ''Dānuvius'': (ドイツ語:Donau) ((:ˈdoːnaʊ̯); ; (イディッシュ語:''Duney'' דוניי) (:dʊnɛj)); ; ; (スロバキア語:Dunaj) ((:ˈdunaj)); (ハンガリー語:Duna) ((:ˈdunɒ)); ( or ); (ルーマニア語、モルドバ語():Dunărea) ((:ˈdunəre̯a)); (); (ブルガリア語:Дунав ''Dunav'') ((:ˈdunɐf)); (ウクライナ語:Дунай ''Dunai'') ((:duˈnɑj)). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Danube」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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