Vilnia River

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vilnia River
Vilnia River in Vilnius
Vilnia River in Vilnius
Origin 5 km south of Šumskas
Mouth Neris River
Basin countries Lithuania, Belarus
Length 80 km

Vilnia (also Vilnelė, Belarusian: Вільня/Vilnia, Polish: Wilenka) is a river in Lithuania. Its source is near the village Vindžiūnai, 5 km south of Šumskas, at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. Vilnia is 80 km long and its basin covers 624 sq. km. It flows into the Neris River in Vilnius.

The name of the river derives from the Lithuanian language word vilnis ("a surge") or vilnyti ("to surge"). The city's name Vilnius probably has derived from its name.

Vilnelė, the diminutive form of the original hydronym Vilnia, came into popular use in Lithuanian and largely replaced the latter because of the influence of the Polish name Wilenka.