On many old maps of Eastern Europe you can see a strange mark: "River Ra". Which of the water arteries of Russia does this name denote? Where did this hydronym come from? And is there a connection between the river Ra and the ancient Egyptian sun god?
Mysteries of ancient cartography
Travellers from different countries and eras gave the same objects different names, and there is nothing surprising in this. The most ancient maps on which the hydronym river Ra can be found date back to the 1st century AD. They were drawn by the Greek philosopher Ptolemy and have survived, unfortunately, only in the form of copies made in the age of geographical discoveries (1500s). On the maps of Eastern Europe, a large water artery is clearly visible, signed with the mark “Rha fl.” (Rha flumine).
One name and two rivers: the secrets of the Cis-Urals
Today there is no doubt that the Volga was called the river Ra. Just look at the map, presumably dating back to 1540, where the inscription is clearly visible: “Wolga ot Rha fl.”. It is not difficult to recognize the bends of the “mother of Russian rivers”. And the first word in the title is transcribedabsolutely clear. So the Volga is the river Ra? Not everything is so simple…
On the maps of different centuries marked "Rha fl." two different water bodies were designated:
- On a 16th-century copy, the Kama, a western tributary of the Volga, is named as the river Ra.
- On the TABVLA EVROPAE VIII map, the Volga is marked as the "Western Current of Ra". From which we can conclude: the hydronym equally applied to both channels, only the geographical location of each was specified.
- On the maps of "Asian Scythia" (that is, the Trans-Urals), the Volga is not marked at all for a simple reason: it turned out to be outside the boundaries of the depicted territory. "Ra" is again named Kama.
- Another author, without thinking twice, marked "Rha fl." both channels at once - both the Volga and its main tributary.
Based on this, we can draw an interesting conclusion. Perhaps such a wide variation in the names is due to the fact that in ancient times the river Ra was called not only the main channel of the Volga, but also all its tributaries.
It is also noteworthy that a recognizable root, meaning flow, movement, is also in the modern name of the Riphean Mountains - the Urals. What some linguists interpret exactly as "near the river Ra".
Other names of the Volga
At different times, the "mother of Russian rivers" was called differently. We must not forget that its shores were inhabited by representatives of various peoples. And each language had its own designation for the river, which served for people as a source of food, and the main waterway, and an object of worship. In addition to the name "Ra", history has preserved the following hydronyms:
- Russian "Volga", derived from the Old Slavic word "vlga", meaning simply "water", "dampness", "river".
- Erzya “Rav”, also translated as “river”, “stream”.
- Khazar "Idel" (or Itil) - "great river". On Arabic maps, this name was transformed into "Atel".
City on the Ra River
Volga-Volga, dear mother… Who doesn't know this song? The Volga is called the "mother of Russian rivers" for a reason. From time immemorial, it has played a huge role in the life of the peoples inhabiting it. One of the most famous cities that controlled navigation along the Volga was the capital of the Khazar Khanate - Itil. Kazan was no less important, for several centuries it levied tribute from merchants traveling to Persia. Now there are more than fifty cities along the banks of the great river, many of which are of great importance for the economy and culture of the entire region. Among them:
- Kazan;
- Samara;
- Astrakhan;
- Kostroma;
- Tver;
- Nizhny Novgorod;
- Volgograd;
- Saratov;
- Tolyatti;
- Cheboksary;
- Dubna;
- Yaroslavl.
The history of the Russian Plain is widely covered in the work of Dmitry Kvashnin, a resident of one of the largest cities in the Volga region, from Nizhny Novgorod. In his book "The City on the River Ra", the local historian tells about the unique history and geology of the Russian Plain.
And in the names of the cities of Samara, Saratov and Astrakhan, interested linguists can hear the same root “ra”. Truth,this point of view has not yet been proven and is more of a speculation. For example, there are a variety of theories about the origin of the toponym "Astrakhan", ranging from the name of the Tatar village Ashtarkhan, which once stood almost on the site of the current metropolis, and ending with references to Astarkhan, the son of one of the Bulgar rulers, who once built a fortified settlement in the lower reaches of the Volga.
Mysteries of ancient languages
Scientists are still arguing about the origin of the ancient name of the Volga - Ra. There are several versions:
- The word has Latin roots and translates as "Generous".
- The term comes from the Erzya language, one of the ethnic groups of the Mordovians. Their word "rav" means a stream of water.
- The hydronym has a common root with such Russian words as “rainbow”, “joy”, “dew” and… “Rus”. The fact is that the ancient Slavic root "ra" ("ro", "ru", depending on the pronunciation), means "light", "bright", "sunny". The Volga, indeed, has always been surprisingly transparent. However, the root “ra” can be interpreted in different ways: from indicating the purity of the river to a hint that a huge channel connected the entire world known to local residents with its arms. "Sunflower" river, so to speak. Some amateur etymologists, by the way, see the similarity of the ancient name of the Volga with the name of the Egyptian sun god. Whether this is so is not yet known for certain.
- And one more Latin, or rather, Proto-Indo-European, theory. The root "rha" or "rhe" can be found in words such as "hemorrhage" (bleeding), "rhea" (the name of the mobileparts of rigging on sailing ships), “rapid” (part of the river with the fastest current), “fly” (move, flow, splash, including in the wind). As you can see, this sound combination means movement, flow. And here it is time to recall another hydronym, though located in Western Europe: Rhine.
Supporters of different points of view still cannot agree on the origin of the ancient name of the Volga - Ra. However, it is quite possible that all these theories are correct to some extent. Especially if you remember that, according to many linguists, all the languages of the Indo-European group originated from Sanskrit and are related to each other.
