Danu is an ancient

Scythian The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people who had migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC fr ...

word meaning ''"river"''. The commonly proposed etymology of the names of the

Danube River The Danube ( ; see also other names) is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea. A large and historically important riv ...

Dnieper River The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

Dniester River The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

Don River The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire. Its basin is betwee ...

, and

Donets River The Seversky Donets () or Siverskyi Donets (), usually simply called the Donets (), is a river on the south of the East European Plain. It originates in the Central Russian Upland, north of Belgorod, flows south-east through Ukraine (Kharkiv ...

. Danu may also refer to:

Mythology

* Danu (Indo European) a water goddess in the

Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Ind ...

Danu (Irish goddess) ''*Danu'' () is a hypothesised entity in Irish mythology whose sole attestation is in the genitive in the name of the Tuatha dé Danann, which may mean 'the peoples of the goddess Danu' in Old Irish. Despite a complete absence from the primary t ...

, reconstructed mother goddess of the ''Tuatha De Danann'' (Old Irish: "The peoples of the goddess Danu") *

Danu (Asura) Danu (, ) is a Hindu primordial goddess. She is mentioned in the ''Rigveda'' to be the mother of the eponymous race known as the danavas. The word ''Danu'' described the primeval waters that this deity perhaps embodied. In later Hinduism, she ...

, an Asura and Hindu primordial goddess of primeval waters *

Dewi Danu Dewi Danu is the water goddess of the Balinese Hindus, who call their belief-system Agama Tirta, or ''belief-system of the water''. She is one of two supreme deities in the Balinese tradition. See also *Danu (Asura) External links *''Ulun Danu ...

, a Balinese Hindu water goddess

People

Danu Innasithamby Savio Danushathan Innasithamby (born 13 October 1986), better known as Danu Innasithamby, is a Sri Lankan media personality, talk show host and Actor. Innasithamby is best known for his talk show programmes on Hi TV, ''Date with Danu'' and ''Danu ...

, a Sri Lankan media personality *

Danu people The Danu people () are a government-recognized ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma), predominantly populating the areas near the Pindaya Caves in Shan State. They speak the Danu language, which is closely related to Burmese. Etymology The name ' ...

, an ethnic group in Myanmar

Places

Iran

Moldova

Danu, Glodeni Danu is a commune in Glodeni District, Moldova. It is composed of three villages: Camencuța, Danu and Nicolaevca.Danu language Intha and Danu are southern Burmish languages of Shan State, Burma, spoken respectively by the Intha and Danu people, the latter of whom are Bamar descendants who migrated to Inle Lake in Shan State. Considered to be dialects of Burmese by the ...

, a Burmish language in Myanmar

Popular culture

Danú Danú is an Irish traditional music band. The founding members of Danú (Donnchadh Gough, Dónal Clancy, Daire Bracken, and Benny McCarthy) met in Waterford in Ireland in 1994, and consolidated as a band after performing in the Festival Inte ...

, an Irish folk music group * The fictitious island setting of Timothy Mo's novel, '' The Redundancy of Courage'' based on the real-life nation of East Timor

Acronym DANU

Doclean Academy of Sciences and Arts The Doclean Academy of Sciences and Arts ( Montenegrin and Serbian: Dukljanska akademija nauka i umjetnosti, DANU / Дукљанска академија наука и уметности'', ''ДАНУ; Latin ''Academia Dioclitiana Scientiarum et ...

, with the native acronym ''DANU'' {{disambig, geo