Have you ever thought that on our Earth there are the oldest witnesses to the whole history of mankind? These are rivers. In this regard, the Volga River is one of the key witnesses of Russian history. But how many of us know that this river had other, most ancient names?
First mention
The Russian state arose quite late, especially regarding such European civilizations as the Roman Empire or Byzantium. The initial Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” dates back to the 12th century. The first Russian chronicler Nestor refers to the Volga River. But there were much more ancient chronicles in which we first meet our heroine under other names. It is no coincidence that the name of the river directly depends on which civilization the chronicler belonged to. So, the ancient Roman and ancient Greek annals mention the old name of the Volga River briefly - Ra. However, ancient Arab sources indicate that a river called Atel flowed in this area.
Each author has his own point of view on the origin of the mentioned names. For example, Ra according to different versions of linguists means “generosity” (if we turn to Roman roots) or “calm water” (if we take Indo-European dialects as a basis). So is it fair to say that the old name of the Volga River exists?
Old or alien?
By the way, the Arabic name of the Volga River turned out to be more tenacious, in various variations went down in history and on the maps of many peoples. There is a common point of view that the old name of the Volga River is Itil. But calling it old is not entirely correct. Rather, it is one of the names that tribes living in its lower reaches gave in their own way to the river. Namely Bulgars. The language that the ancient Bulgars spoke was Turkic, in many respects related and borrowed from Arabic. The word Itil (Atal, Ethel) in this group of languages literally means “river”.
origin of name
This new or old name of the Volga River, history does not exactly confirm. Such is the nature of this science - accuracy is not in its part. But you can figure out the origin of the dearest and closest name to us - the Volga. The word has Slavic roots - most researchers agree on this. With the words "volgly", "vologa" the tribes that lived along the riverbanks, from ancient times denoted the concepts of moisture, wet, swampy. The Volga, indeed, like most large rivers, originates in wet marshy areas.
However, there is one more curious theory that says that the old name of the river (Volga) is primary in itself. It is from the name itself that the concepts volgly appeared - wet, wet. This theory is based on the principle: the larger the geographical object and the more important its role in human life in past historical periods, the more ancient is its name.
Other versions of title history
If you recall that even before the 9th century the Finno-Ugric peoples settled in the upper Volga, and with the advent of Rurik these lands were completely settled by the Scandinavians - the version about the origin of the name of the river from the Finnish “valge”, which means “bright”, is quite logical.
There is a somewhat naive version of the mythological origin of the ancient name of the river, first mentioned in the annals of Ptolemy. Ra is the old name of the Volga River, and for children it is clear that Ra is also the Egyptian god of the Sun. Hardly anyone would call the river of the Central European plain in honor of the sun god of the ancient Egyptians. But in addition, the root "ra" in Latin and Greek means literally "expiration".
Another suggestion about the origin of the word “Volga” again sends us to the Baltic peoples. “Valka” in the Baltic language means “current stream”.
What does the name Volga mean to us
We found out the old name of the Volga River, and where it came from. Now it’s hard to imagine that this word could have come into our language from somewhere outside, it’s so familiar and close. In addition, the very name of this great river gave the name to many large cities (and not only cities), which is forever rooted in our language. Let's try to calculate how many big and small cities are named after the Volga River: Volgograd, Vologda, Volgodonsk, Volgorechensk, Volzhsk and Zavolzhye, Volzhsky and Zavolzhsk. And the legendary Volga car, manufactured at the GAZ automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod? This brand remains one of the best in the domestic auto industry today. And she was named after the same great river, and in many ways resembles it.
The name of the river also entered into all spheres of art: literature, poetry, painting, music and cinema. Beloved by all authors and folk songs that will never leave the lips of a Russian person, immortalized the name of the Volga River. Famous Russian artists found in her waters an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I.I. Levitan, B. M. Kustodiev, F. A. Vasiliev, the Chernetsov brothers and many others were in love with the Volga.
Now it does not really matter to us whether the Volga had ancient names, what their origin was. It is important that for our children and grandchildren she will remain the same kind mother and nurse, as she was for our distant ancestors.