NERIS

'Neris' (, ) is a river arising in Belarus, flowing through Vilnius (Lithuania) and becoming a tributary of the Neman River (Nemunas) at Kaunas (Lithuania). Its length is 510 km.
The Neris connects two old Lithuanian capitals - Kernavė and Vilnius. Along its banks are burial places of the pagan Lithuanians. 25 km from Vilnius are the old burial mounds of Karmazinai. There also are many mythological stones, and a sacred oak.

Contents

Etymology

External links

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Notes

Etymology

''Neris'' is the primeval name of the river, while name ''Vilija'' (''Vialla'') is only of secondary extraction, which formed in Slavic languages from word ''Velija'' (meaning ''big''). Primeval name ''Neris'' also remain and in the riverside names like ''Paneriai''. Name ''Neris'' origin is Lithuanian; ''nerti'' meaning ''to dive'', ''swim downstream''; likely name had more general meaning of ''flow'' in early times.^[1]
Etymologically, the name 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 Indo-European. There are a number of possibilities; perhaps Pokorny's 2nd
★ ner-, "under" (''Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch'', pp765-766), 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)).

External links

★ Neris regional park

Image gallery

Notes

1. Senosios Lietuvos valstybės vardynas, , Zigmas, Zinkevičius, Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas, ,