Elsava is a right

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

in the administrative districts

Aschaffenburg Aschaffenburg (; South Franconian: ''Aschebersch'') is a town in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is its administrative seat. Aschaffenburg belonged to the Archbishopric ...

and

Miltenberg Miltenberg () is a town in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named district and has a population of over 9,000. Geography Location The old town lies on the Main ...

in the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Spessart Spessart is a ''Mittelgebirge'', a range of low wooded mountains, in the States of Bavaria and Hesse in Germany. It is bordered by the Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald. The highest elevation is the Geiersberg at 586 metres above sea level. Etymo ...

. It flows into the river Main in

Elsenfeld Elsenfeld is a market community in the Miltenberg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the river Main between the hills of the Spessart, east of the river, and Odenwald, ...

. The short section upstream from to

Mespelbrunn Mespelbrunn is a community in the Aschaffenburg (district), Aschaffenburg district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Lower Franconia (''Unterfranken'') in Bavaria, Germany and a member of the ''Municipal association (Germany), Verwaltungsgemeins ...

is called Kaltenbach.

Name

The original name ''Elsapha'' is descended from the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

word ''Els'' for

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

and the

Indogermanic The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutch, ...

word ''Ap'' what meant water. As an explanation "watercourse surrounded by alders" arises from it. The river gave the municipality Elsenfeld the name. The river

Aschaff The Aschaff (in its uppermost course: ''Kleinaschaff'') is a river in the northern Spessart in Bavaria, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Main and is long. It begins at the Aschaffquelle near Waldaschaff. Loosely translated the name Aschaf ...

flowing nearby (from ''Ascapha'' meaning "ash water") has also the same name origin.

References

Rivers of Bavaria Rivers of the Spessart Rivers of Germany {{Bavaria-river-stub

Name

See also

References