Rhône River

The River Rhône (French Rhône, Occitan Ròse, Franco-Provençal Roun, standard German Rhone, Valais German Rotten) is one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France.

Origin of the name

The word "Rhône" comes from Latin Rhodanus, which itself comes from ancient Greek Ῥοδανός (Rhodanos), which is the Greek rendering of the Gaulish (Celtic) name of the river, as heard by the Greeks living in the colony of Massalia (Marseille). The Celtic name of the river, something like Rodo or Roto, literally "that which rolls", or "that which runs", is a frequent name of rivers in the ancient Celtic tongue. It was also the name of the lower Seine River (see Seine article), as well as several other rivers of western Europe. This Celtic name comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *ret- ("to run, roll"), which gave the word rota ("wheel") in Latin, from which is derived "rotate" and "to roll" in English. Cognates in modern Celtic languages are Irish rith and Welsh rhedeg, both meaning "to run".

Some scholars posit that the root rot- or rod- found in the name "Rhône" as well as in the name of many western European rivers, and whose original meaning seems to be "river", is in fact Pre-Indo-European, in which case it would only be a coincidence that it resembles the Proto-Celtic verb reto ("to run"). Further research is needed to decide between these two theories.

In French, the adjective derived from the river is rhodanien, as in le sillon rhodanien (literally "the furrow of the Rhône"), which is the name of the long straight Saône and Rhône rivers valley, a deep cleft running due south to the Mediterranean and separating the Alps from the Massif Central.

Course

It rises near the Rhône Glacier in Valais, Switzerland, in the Saint-Gotthard massif, at an altitude of 1753 m.

Up to Martigny, the Rhône is a torrent, and then becomes a great mountain river running SW through a glacier valley. Then, it turns NW to exit the Alps and flows west through Lake Geneva (French Lac Leman) before entering France.

It is joined by the river Saône at Lyon, before going south.

At Arles, the Rhône divides itself in two arms, forming the Camargue delta, with all branches flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. One arm is called the "Grand Rhône", the other one is the "Petit Rhône".

Navigation

The Rhône is an important route for inland navigation, connecting the industrial cities of Arles, Avignon, Valence, Vienne and Lyon to the Mediterranean Sea ports of Fos, Marseille and Sète. The Rhône is developed as a class V waterway from the mouth of the Saône to the sea. The Saône river, which is also canalized, connects the Rhône ports to the cities of Villefranche, Macon and Chalons. Smaller vessels (up to CEMT class I) can travel further North-West, North and North-East via the Centre-Loire-Briare and Loing Canals to the Seine river, via the Canal de la Marne à la Saône (recently often called the "Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne") to the Marne, via the Canal des Vosges (formerly called the "Canal de l'Est - Branche Sud" to the Moselle and via the Canal du Rhône au Rhin to the Rhine.

The Rhône is infamous for its strong current when the river carries large quantities of water: current speeds up to 10 kilometers per hour are sometimes reached, particularly in the stretch below the last lock at Valabrègues and in some of the diversion canals. The ten river locks are operated daily from 05:00 a.m. till 09:00 p.m., but night operation can be asked and is usually granted. (Source: NoorderSoft Waterways Database)

Tributaries

• Aigues
• Ain River (R), near Pont-de-Chéruy
• Ardèche River (R), near Pont-Saint-Esprit
• Arve River (L)
• Drôme River (L), near Loriol-sur-Drôme
• Durance River (L), near Avignon
• Gardon or Gard River (R), at Beaucaire
• Isère River (L), in Pont-de-l'Isère
• Ouvèze
• Saône (R), in Lyon

Power & speed

Though not the longest, the Rhône is the fastest and most powerful river in France.

An average of 1800 m³/s of water pours into the Mediterranean at its delta. This puts it at number 48 in the world ranking. However, heavy rain can cause the river to swell to dangerous proportions. For example, the rate was 11,000 m³/s at Beaucaire in January 1994.

This article is licenced under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rhône River".