Dniester

The name Dniester derives from Sarmatian dānu nazdya "the close river".Mallory, J.P. and Victor H. Mair. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. p. 106 (The Dnieper, also of Sarmatian origin, derives from the opposite meaning, "the river on the far side".) Alternatively, according to Vasily Abaev Dniester would be a blend of Scythian dānu "river" and Thracian Ister, the previous name of the river, literally Dān-Ister (River Ister).Абаев В. И. [http://i.ironau.ru/pdf/osjazfolk1949.pdf Осетинский язык и фольклор] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225034/http://i.ironau.ru/pdf/osjazfolk1949.pdf |date=2016-03-03 }} (tr. "Ossetian language and folklore"). Moscow: Publishing house of Soviet Academy of Sciences, 1949. P. 236 The Ancient Greek name of Dniester, Tyras (Τύρας), is from Scythian tūra, meaning "rapid".{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}}

The names of the Don and Danube are also from the same Iranian word *dānu "river". Classical authors have also referred to it as Danaster. These early forms, without -i- but with -a-, contradict Abaev's hypothesis.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} Edward Gibbon refers to the river both as the Niester and Dniester in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.Edward Gibbon. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol 1 chapt 11

In Ukrainian, it is known as {{lang|uk|Дністе́р}} (translit. Dnister), in Romanian as {{lang|ro|Nistru}}, in Russian as {{lang|ru|Днестр}} (translit. Dnestr), in Polish as Dniestr, in Yiddish as Nester נעסטער; in Turkish as Turla ({{langx|ota|طورلا ، طورله}}), and in Lithuanian as Dniestras.

{{stack|File:Staryi Sambir 02 Dnister.jpg (western Ukraine)]]}}

The Dniester rises in Ukraine, near the city of Turka, close to the border with Poland, and flows toward the Black Sea. Its course marks part of the border of Ukraine and Moldova, after which it flows through Moldova for {{convert|398|km}}, separating the main territory of Moldova from its breakaway region Transnistria. It later forms an additional part of the Moldova-Ukraine border, then flows through Ukraine to the Black Sea, where its estuary forms the Dniester Liman.

File:Transnistrienfortress.jpgn fortress of Tighina.]]

Along the lower half of the Dniester, the western bank is high and hilly while the eastern one is low and flat. The river represents the de facto end of the Eurasian Steppe. Its most important tributaries are Răut and Bîc.

{{stack|File:Chotyn, pevnost, celek.jpg (western Ukraine). Another Moldavian fortress and an Orthodox church seen on foreground.]]}}

During the Neolithic, the Dniester River was the centre of one of the most advanced civilizations on earth at the time. The Cucuteni–Trypillian culture flourished in this area from roughly 5300 to 2600 BC, leaving behind thousands of archeological sites. Their settlements had up to 15,000 inhabitants, making them among the first large farming communities in the world.{{cite web

|author = Mikhail Widejko (Відейко М. Ю.)

|url = http://www.iananu.kiev.ua/privatl/pages/Widejko/txt/cities.html

|title = Трипільські протоміста. Історія досліджень. Київ 2002; с. 103–125

|trans-title = Trypillya culture proto-cities. History of investigations. Kyiv 2002, p. 103–125)

|publisher = Iananu.kiev.ua

|access-date = 2012-08-23

|archive-date = 2018-12-26

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181226052439/http://www.iananu.kiev.ua/privatl/pages/Widejko/txt/cities.html

|url-status = live

}}

In antiquity, the river was considered one of the principal rivers of European Sarmatia, and it was mentioned by many Classical geographers and historians. According to Herodotus (iv.51) it rose in a large lake, whilst Ptolemy (iii.5.17, 8.1 &c.) places its sources in Mount Carpates (the modern Carpathian Mountains), and Strabo (ii) says that they are unknown. It ran in an easterly direction parallel with the Ister (lower Danube), and formed part of the boundary between Dacia and Sarmatia. It fell into the Pontus Euxinus to the northeast of the mouth of the Ister, the distance between them being 900 stadia – approximately {{convert|130|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} – according to Strabo (vii.), while {{convert|130|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} (from the Pseudostoma) according to Pliny (iv. 12. s. 26). Scymnus (Fr. 51) describes it as of easy navigation, and abounding in fish. Ovid (ex Pont. iv.10.50) speaks of its rapid course.

Greek authors referred to the river as Tyras ({{Langx|el|{{lang|grc|ὁ Τύρας}}}}).Strabo ii. At a later period it obtained the name of Danastris or Danastus,Amm. Marc. xxxi. 3. § 3; Jornand. Get. 5; Const. Porphyr. de Adm. Imp. 8 whence its modern name of Dniester (Niester), though the Turks still called it Turla during the 19th century.Herod. iv. 11, 47, 82; Scylax, p. 29; Strab. i. p. 14; Mela, ii. 1, etc.; also Schaffarik, Slav. Alterth. i. p. 505. The form {{lang|grc|Τύρις}} is sometimes found.Stephanus of Byzantium, p. 671; Suid. s. v.

According to Constantine VII, the Varangians used boats on their trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks, along Dniester and Dnieper and along the Black Sea shore. The navigation near the western shore of Black Sea contained stops at Aspron (at the mouth of Dniester), then Conopa, Constantia (localities today in Romania) and Messembria (today in Bulgaria).

From the 14th century to 1812, part of the Dniester formed the eastern boundary of the Principality of Moldavia.

Between the World Wars, the Dniester formed part of the boundary between Romania and the Soviet Union. In 1919, on Easter Sunday, the bridge was blown up by the French Army to protect Bender from the Bolsheviks.{{cite book

|last = Kaba

|first = John

|title = Politico-economic Review of Basarabia

|year = 1919

|publisher = American Relief Administration

|location = United States

|page = 15

|url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7313/view/1/15/

|access-date = 16 December 2022

|archive-date = 21 June 2019

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190621230311/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7313/view/1/15/

|url-status = live

}} During World War II, German and Romanian forces battled Soviet troops on the western bank of the river.

After the Republic of Moldova declared its independence in 1991, the small area to the east of the Dniester that had been part of the Moldavian SSR refused to participate and declared itself the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, or Transnistria, with its capital at Tiraspol on the river.

In Moldova, the Dniester Day ({{langx|ro|Ziua Nistrului}}) is celebrated every year in the last Sunday of May.{{cite news|url=https://www.moldpres.md/news/2024/05/24/24003849|title=Pe 26 mai este marcată Ziua Nistrului, cu sloganul "Râul care ne unește"|publisher=Moldpres|date=24 May 2024|language=ro|access-date=24 May 2024|archive-date=31 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240531094533/https://www.moldpres.md/news/2024/05/24/24003849|url-status=live}}

File:Ua river seret mouth.jpg and the Dniester.]]

From source to mouth, right tributaries, i.e. on the southwest side, are the Stryi ({{cvt|231|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Svicha|uk|Свіча (річка)}} ({{cvt|107|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Limnytsia|de|Limnyzja|}} ({{cvt|122|km|mi|disp=or}}), Bystrytsia (101 km), Răut ({{cvt|283|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Ichel|ro|Râul Ichel}} ({{cvt|101|km|mi|disp=or}}), Bîc ({{cvt|155|km|mi|disp=or}}), and Botna ({{cvt|152|km|mi|disp=or}}).

Left tributaries, on the northeast side, are the Strwiąż ({{cvt|94|km|mi|disp=or}}), Zubra, Hnyla Lypa ({{cvt|87|km|mi|disp=or}}), Zolota Lypa ({{cvt|140|km|mi|disp=or}}), Koropets ({{cvt|78|km|mi|disp=or}}), Strypa ({{cvt|147|km|mi|disp=or}}), Seret ({{cvt|250|km|mi|disp=or}}), Zbruch ({{cvt|245|km|mi|disp=or}}), Smotrych ({{cvt|169|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Ushytsia (river)|lt=Ushytsia|uk|Ушиця (річка)}} ({{cvt|122|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Zhvanchyk|de|Schwantschyk (Dnister)}} ({{cvt|107|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Liadova|uk|Лядова (притока Дністра)}} ({{cvt|93|km|mi|disp=or}}), Murafa ({{cvt|162|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Rusava (river)|lt=Rusava|uk|Русава (річка)}} ({{cvt|78|km|mi|disp=or}}), {{illm|Yahorlyk|uk|Ягорлик}} ({{cvt|73|km|mi|disp=or}}), and Kuchurhan ({{cvt|123|km|mi|disp=or}}).[http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CD%5CN%5CDnisterRiver.htm Dnister River] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019232920/http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CD%5CN%5CDnisterRiver.htm |date=2020-10-19 }} Encyclopedia of Ukraine, accessed 15 December 2022

• Dniester Canyon
• Dniester Pumped Storage Power Station
• Euroregion Dniester

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{SmithDGRG|title=Tyras}}

{{Commons category|Dniester}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Dniester | volume= 8 |last1= Kropotkin |first1= Peter Alexeivitch |author1-link= Peter Kropotkin| last2= Bealby |first2= John Thomas| page = 349 |short= 1}}
• Volodymyr Kubijovyč, Ivan Teslia, [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CD%5CN%5CDnisterRiver.htm Dnister River in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]
• [http://www.dniester.org/ Dniester.org: a trans-boundary Dniester river project]
• [http://www.eco-tiras.org/ eco-tiras.org]

{{Rivers of Ukraine}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Moldova–Ukraine border

Category:Ramsar sites in Moldova

Category:Ramsar sites in Ukraine

Category:Rivers of Transnistria

Category:Rivers of Lviv Oblast

Category:Rivers of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast

Category:Rivers of Ternopil Oblast

Category:Rivers of Chernivtsi Oblast

Category:Rivers of Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Category:Rivers of Vinnytsia Oblast

Category:Rivers of Odesa Oblast