The Vilnia (also ''Vilnelė''; , ''Vilnia'' ; ) is a
river in
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
. Its source is near the village of Vindžiūnai, 5 km south of
Šumskas, at the Lithuanian-
Belarusian border. The Vilnia is 79.6 km long
and its basin covers 624 sq. km. For 13 km its flow makes the
Belarus-Lithuania border, and the remaining 69 km are in Lithuania until it flows into the
Neris River at
Vilnius. Eventually, its waters, via the Neris's drainage into the
Neman River
The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...
, flow into the
Baltic Sea. Its
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
with the Neris lies within the city of
Vilnius, and the river's name was probably the source of the city's name.
Springs along its length contribute to its flow. A series of wells accessing the river's
groundwaters, drilled in the early 20th century, remained a major supply of potable water in the city into the late 20th century.
The name of the river derives from the
Lithuanian language word ''vilnis'' ("a surge") or ''vilnyti'' ("to surge"). Beneath it stands the
Indo-European root wel-/wl- meaning "to roll", "to spin".
''Vilnelė'', the
diminutive
A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...
form of the original
hydronym ''Vilnia'', came into popular use in Lithuanian and in
Soviet times largely replaced the latter because of
Polish language influence — Poles translated Lithuanian name of the river with such diminutive form (Wilenka).
In an effort to restore the upstream migration of
salmonids in the basin, a
fish ladder was constructed on the Vilnia in 2000.
[
]
References
Rivers of Lithuania
Geography of Vilnius
International rivers of Europe
Belarus–Lithuania border
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