Dniester

Meaning

Proper Noun

• river Eastern Europe (region), flowing through Ukraine and Moldova to the Black Sea.

Origin

• From Russian Днестр, pre-reform orthography Днѣстръ, ultimately (compare Byzantine Greek Δάναστρις and Late Latin Danaster) from Old Ossetic (Sarmatian) *dānu *nazdya "the close river" (the Dniepr being the far one). The first element is from Proto-Indo-Iranian *dʰánwati << *dʰénh₂- ~ dʰn̥h₂-u- << Proto-Indo-European *dʰenh₂- ("to flow"), found in several other river names such as Danube and Донец; more at Danube.