Târnava River
Encyclopedia
The Târnava is a river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare
Târnava Mare River
The Târnava Mare River is a river in Romania. Its source is in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, near the sources of the Mureş and Olt in Harghita County. It flows through the Romanian counties of Harghita, Mureş, Sibiu, and Alba. The cities of Odorheiu Secuiesc, Sighişoara, and Mediaş lie on the...

 and Târnava Mică
Târnava Mica River
The Târnava Mică River is a river in Romania. Its source is in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, in Harghita County. It flows through the Romanian counties Harghita, Mureş, and Alba, more or less parallel to and north from the Târnava Mare River. The cities of Sovata and Târnăveni lie on the...

 in the town of Blaj
Blaj
Blaj is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,758 inhabitants.The landmark of the city is the fact that it was the principal religious and cultural center of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church in Transylvania....

. The Târnava flows into the Mureş River
Mures River
The Mureș is an approximately 761 km long river in Eastern Europe. It originates in the Hășmașu Mare Range in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania, and joins the Tisza river at Szeged in southeastern Hungary....

 after 28 km, near the town of Teiuş
Teius
Teius is a genus of lizards that belong to the family Teiidae.-Classification:Genus Teius*Teius oculatus*Teius suquiensis*Teius teyou...

.

Etymology

The name Târnava is of Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...

 origin, from trn, meaning "thorn".

The Hungarian name Küküllő is of Old Turcic
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...

 origin from Kukel meaning sloe, and is thought to be given by the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

.
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