The Rába (german: Raab; hu, Rába; sl, Raba ) is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
in southeastern
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and western
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
and a right tributary of the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...
.
Geography
Its source is in Austria, some kilometres east of
Bruck an der Mur below
Heubodenhöhe Hill. It flows through the Austrian states of
Styria and
Burgenland
Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...
, and the Hungarian counties of
Vas and
Győr-Moson-Sopron. It is long, of which about 100 km in Austria. It flows into a tributary of the Danube (Mosoni-Duna) in northwestern Hungary, in the city of
Győr
Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of ...
. Its basin area is . Towns along the Rába include
Gleisdorf
Gleisdorf is a town in the district of Weiz in the Austrian state of Styria.
Geography
Gleisdorf lies about 25 km east of Graz in the valley of the Raab
Sister cities
* Winterbach im Remstal (near Stuttgart, since 1961)
* Nagykanizsa (Hunga ...
,
Feldbach (both in Austria), and
Szentgotthárd
Szentgotthárd ( sl, Monošter; german: St. Gotthard) is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the Rába River near the Austrian border.
History
The town took its name from, and grew up round, the Cistercian Szentgotthárd Abbey, fo ...
and
Körmend
Körmend ( sl, Kermendin, Prekmurje Slovene: ''Karmadén,'' ger, Kirment) is a town in Vas county , Western Hungary.
Places of interest
The town is especially well known for its castle which used to belong to the Batthyány family, one of the mo ...
(in Hungary). In the early
Cenozoic the river used to flow in the opposite direction, but tectonic uplift reversed this flow.
Name
The Rába was attested as Latin ''Arrabo'' and Greek ''Arabon'' () in antiquity, as ''Raba'' and ''Hrapa'' in AD 791, and as ''ad Rapam'' in 890. The various modern names of the river are derived from the
Romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
reflex ''Rābo''. The name is probably Indo-European, but its origin is unknown.
Rába Slovenes
The
Rába Slovenes, living in the
Rába Valley (Sln. ''Porabje,'' Hung. ''Vendvidék''), are the westernmost group of
Hungarian Slovenes
Hungarian Slovenes ( Slovene: ''Madžarski Slovenci'', hu, Magyarországi szlovének) are an autochthonous ethnic and linguistic Slovene minority living in Hungary. The largest groups are the Rába Slovenes ( sl, porabski Slovenci, dialectical ...
. The Raba Valley is part of the wider region of
Prekmurje
Prekmurje (; dialectically: ''Prèkmürsko'' or ''Prèkmüre''; hu, Muravidék) is a geographically, linguistically, culturally and ethnically defined region of Slovenia, settled by Slovenes and a Hungarian minority, lying between the Mur R ...
.
References
Rivers of Hungary
Rivers of Burgenland
Rivers of Styria
International rivers of Europe
Graz Highlands
Rivers of Austria
Ramsar sites in Hungary
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