Dordogne (river)

The Dordogne (French pronunciation: [dɔʁdɔɲ] ; Occitan: Dordonha) is a river in south-central and southwest France. It is 483.1 km (300.2 mi) long. The Dordogne and its watershed were designated Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO on 11 July 2012.

Geography

The river rises on the flanks of the Puy de Sancy at 1,885 metres (6,184 ft) above sea level in the mountains of Auvergne, from the confluence of two small torrents above the town of Le Mont-Dore: the Dore and the Dogne. It flows generally west nearly 500 kilometres (310 mi) through the Limousin and Périgord regions before flowing into the Gironde, its common estuary with the Garonne, at the Bec d'Ambès ("Ambès beak"), north of the city of Bordeaux.

Etymology

Despite appearances, the name Dordogne is not actually a portmanteau of Dore and Dogne. The name instead comes from the ancient Durānius, likely derived from Doranonia, composed from the Indo-European root *dhu‑ro‑ (from *dʰew-, "to run, flow") and two suffixes: ‑ano‑, to which ‑onia was appended.

Influenced by the suffix ‑onna, which is found in many river names, medieval forms adopted a reduplicated suffix ‑ononia: Dorononia fluvius (6th century), Dornonia (8th century), which evolved into Dordonia (9th century) through a process of dissimilation, thus presenting the false impression of a Dore-Dogne etymology. Aimoin of Fleury is the first known author to have used the name Dordonia.

In Occitan, the river is known as Dordonha.