When it comes to the gender of river names, the most important rule in German is that there is no rule – unlike, for example, in Latin, where the rivers are generally male, where the Danube is also called “Danuvius”. In German, gender depends on several things.
Pay attention to the ending
Firstly, whether there might be another word in the river name. For example, many rivers in southern Germany end in “ach” such as the Schwarzach, the Wutach or the Salzach. They are female because the oh is an old German expression for river. The Schwarzach is nothing other than the black river. The Danube is similar: it has the same root as the Russian river Don, namely the Indo-European word “Duna”, “river”. And the Don floodplain is the floodplain of the river. And because the Aue is female, so is the Danube.
Celts, Romans, Germanic tribes – they all left their mark
This also shows that the names of our rivers come from very different eras. Celts, Romans, Germanic tribes – they were all here. And depending on who gave a river its name, its traces have remained. The Germanic tribes mostly gave the rivers female names, the Romans gave them male names because at least the large rivers were often associated with gods.
Panta rhei – everything flows
In the case of the Rhine, it is not entirely clear whether the name and thus the male gender was introduced by the Romans – as Rhenus – or before by the Celts. What’s interesting here is that the Rhine probably has the same word root as the French Rhone, namely “rhei” – to flow. The classical philologists among us still know Heraclitus’ sentence: Panta rhei – everything flows. This is apparently the same “rhei” as in the Rhine. It is also found in the German word “rinnen”, although the Rhine is of course anything but a trickle.
These few examples show that most of our rivers are female, some are male. But there is no clear rule and a lot depends on the historical circumstances of the naming. And sometimes it jumps: The Rhone is called “le Rhône” in French – so it is masculine.
Thanks to Prof. Konrad Kunze
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