The Târnava (full name in ro, Râul Târnava; hu, Küküllő; german: Kokel; tr, Kokul or Kokulu) is a
river in
Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the
Târnava Mare and
Târnava Mică in the town of
Blaj. The Târnava flows into the
Mureș after 23 km near the town of
Teiuș. The two source rivers of the Târnava are the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică, and its tributaries include the Tur, Izvorul Iezerului,
Secaș, and the
Dunărița. Its
drainage basin covers an area of .
[Analysis of the Tisza River Basin 2007]
IPCDR
Etymology
The name Târnava is of
Slavic origin from ''trn'',
[See ]Trnka Trnka (feminine Trnková) is a Czech habitational surname, meaning a person who lived by a blackthorn bush, or ''trnka'' in Czech.''Dictionary of American Family Names''"Trnka Family History" Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved on 16 January 20 ...
, Trnava, etc. meaning "
thorn".
Other proposed origins for the river's Romanian name is ''Turn'' (tower) + ''dav'' from
Dacian ''dava'' (structure/fortress), i.e. "the river that flows amongst towers and ''davas''"; or a reference to the Romanian city of
Turda, forming ''Tur'' + ''ava'' from ''dava''.
''Trn'' (thorn) is used by Slavic peoples in the Balkans, Czechia and Slovakia, but the 60%
R1a Slavs (Poles, Belarusians, Russians) say ''syp/ship''.
The Hungarian name Küküllő is of
Old Turkic origin from ''kukel'' meaning
sloe, and is thought to have originated from the
Avar people.
, File:Prunus spinosa 002.jpg
, alt2=Prunus spinosa
, Küküllő hu, kökényes
References
Rivers of Alba County
Place names of Slavic origin in Romania
Rivers of Romania
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