Varu – Borüszthenész – Danaper – Danaprisz – Dnyeper – Dnyipro

Hérodotosz ) Borüszthenész (Βορυσθένης) néven emlegette, a római történetíróknál már szittyásan Danaper utóbb Danaprisz, a szarmaták nyelvén *Dánu Apara, ma meg szlávkodón Dnyeper sőt Dnyipro e folyó…

The Huns’ name for the river, Var, was derived from Scythian *Varu, meaning „Broad”. This name was connected to the Graeco-Roman name of the Volga river, óhellénül Ὄαρος [ejt : Oarosz] latinul Oarus, which was also derived from Scythian *Varu. (Harmatta 1999, p. 129.)

A Hérodotoszi Borüszthenész (Βορυσθένης) név igen sokáig élt.

The river is also sometimes called by the Russian name Dnepr (Днепр, pre-revolutionary spelling Днѣпръ, Dněpr). The initial D in Dnieper is generally silent when pronounced in English, although it may be sounded: /ˈniːpər/ or /dəˈniːpər/.

Dnipro derives from Ukrainian: Дніпро, Dnipro. The English pronunciation is /dəˈniːproʊ/. The Ukrainian name has a rare form Дніпр, Dnipr and rare dialectal Дніпер, Dniper. The Middle Ukrainian form attested in the 16th to 18th centuries was Днѣпръ, Dnǐpr. The city of Dnipro is named for the river.

In Belarusian, the river is called Дняпро, Dniapro, or Днепр, Dniepr.

These names are all cognate, deriving from Old East Slavic Дънѣпръ (Dŭněprŭ). The origin of this name is disputed but generally derived from either Sarmatian *Dānu Apara („Farther River”) in parallel with the Dniester („Nearer River”) or from Scythian *Dānu Apr („Deep River”) in reference to its lack of fords, from which was also derived the Late Antique name of the river, Δάναπρις Danapris, as found in the Ravenna Cosmography.

Borysthenes

The earlier Graeco-Roman name of the river, as attested by Herodotus, was „Borysthenes” (Ancient Greek: Βορυσθένης, [ejt : Borüszthenész] ebből a latin: Borysthenes, majd a kisorosz (ukrán) Бористен, Борисфен [ejt : Boriszten, Boriszfen) and later Δάναπρις Danapris. The name Borysthenes was derived from a Scythian name whose form was:

• either Baurastāna, meaning „yellow place”,
• or Baurustāna meant „place of beavers”.
  • This name was linked to the mantle of beaver skins worn by the Iranic water goddess Arəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā, whose epithet of āp (Avestan: 𐬁𐬞, ‘water’) was connected to the name of the daughter of the river-god Borysthenēs in Scythian mythology, the Earth-and-Water goddess Api, whose own name meant „water”.

Ovidius a Borysthenius, alakot használta a Borüszthenész nyomán a folyó költői latin nevéül.

Nyugaton birodalmuk a (Hérodotosznál) Borüszthenész (Βορυσθένης) néven említett, (római történetíróknál) Danaper (ma szlávkodón Dnyeper) utóbb Danaprisz, vagyis szarmata *Dánu Apara folyóig meg még azon is túl terjedt.

Harmatta, János (1999). „Herodotus, Historian of the Cimmerians and the Scythians”. In Reverdin, Olivier [in French]; Nenci, Giuseppe [in Italian] (eds.). Hérodote et les Peuples Non Grecs [Herodotus and the Non-Greek Peoples] (in French). Vandœuvres, Switzerland: Fondation Hardt pour l’étude de l’Antiquité classique [fr]. pp. 115–130. ISBN 978-3-774-92415-4.

Kullanda, S. V. [in Russian] (2013). „Скифские этимологии” [Scythian Etymologies]. In Kolganova, G. Y.; Kullanda, S. V. [in Russian]; Nemirovsky, A. A. [in Russian]; Petrova, A. A.; Safronov, A. V. (eds.). Иранский Мир II – I тыс. до н.э. Материалы международной научной конференции, посвященной памяти Эдвина Арвидовича Грантовского и Дмитрия Сергеевича Раевского. Выпуск VI [Iranian World 2nd – 1st millennium BC. Proceedings of the International Scientific conference Dedicated to the Memory of Edwin Arvidovich Grantovsky and Dmitry Sergeevich Raevsky. Issue VI]. Moscow, Russia: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. pp. 38–48. ISBN 978-5-892-82576-4.