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 wate ...

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 Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

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 , pa ...

Geography

Its source is in Austria, some kilometres east of

Bruck an der Mur Bruck an der Mur is a city of some 13,500 people located in the district Bruck-Mürzzuschlag, in the Austrian state of Styria. It is located at the confluence of the Mur and Mürz Rivers. Its manufacturing includes metal products and paper. Br ...

below Heubodenhöhe Hill. It flows through the Austrian states of

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

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 of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

. 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 Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configura ...

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, dialecticall ...

. 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 Ri ...

References

Rivers of Hungary Rivers of Burgenland Rivers of Styria International rivers of Europe Graz Highlands Rivers of Austria Ramsar sites in Hungary {{Austria-river-stub