Editing Neris (section)

==Dual naming==

The reasons for the dual naming of the river as Neris by the Lithuanians and Viliya (formerly ''Velja'', meaning "big, great" in Slavic) by the Slavs are complex. Even in [[Vilnius]], there are [[toponym]]s including both names, e. g. ''Neris'' remains in the riverside names of ''[[Paneriai]]'' and ''Paneriškės'' while ''Velja'' is a part of the name ''Valakampiai'', which means "an angle of Velja" in Lithuanian.<ref name="Mysterious Neris">[[Vykintas Vaitkevičius]] [http://www.neriesparkas.lt/byla.php?id=17 Mysterious Neris], ''Šiaurės Atėnai''. 2005-07-23 nr. 758  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722151803/http://www.neriesparkas.lt/byla.php?id=17 |date=July 22, 2011 }}</ref> In Kaunas, a part of the city by the Neris river, that was formerly a separate town, is also named [[Vilijampolė]] (Vilija + polis, that means "[[polis]] by Vilija").

Although it has been suggested that ''Neris'' is the primeval name of the river, while the name ''Viliya'' is of secondary extraction,<ref name=ZZ/> the dual naming most probably emerged from the confluence of the rivers Neris (now known as [[Narach River|Narač River]], leaving [[Lake Narač]]) and Velja, in the historical Slavic/Baltic borderland, each ethnos choosing their own name for the river starting at the confluence.<ref name="Mysterious Neris"/> It is moreover evidenced by the fact that the name ''Neris'' was never used to name the river Velja up to this confluence. Therefore, it has been proposed that the [[Narach River|Narač River]] had in fact been considered the upper reaches of Neris by the Balts in ancient times.<ref>S. Kolupaila, ''Narutis ir Neris'', ''Kosmos'', 1940, Nr. 1/3, p. 52</ref>

Some linguists, however, point to the fact, that Viliya in it upper part is not "big" or "great" at all and the name cognates with [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] words [[Perkūnas#Perkūnas_and_Velnias|velnias]] and [[Lithuanian_mythology#Pantheon_of_Lithuanian_gods|vėlė]]. What is more, all the territory of upper Neris before the 12th c. was inhabited by the Balts, the archaeological {{ill|East Lithuanian Barrow Culture|lt|Rytų Lietuvos pilkapių kultūra}}.

===Etymology of "Neris"===
The name ''Neris'' is of [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] origin, a [[cognate]] of the Lithuanian ''nerti'' generally meaning "to dive, swim downstream" as well as "to net, [[crochet]]". It is likely that the name had a more general meaning of "flow"<ref name=ZZ>{{cite book | last = Zinkevičius | first = Zigmas | author-link = Zigmas Zinkevičius | title = Senosios Lietuvos valstybės vardynas | publisher = [[Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas]] | year = 2007 | location = Vilnius | pages = 45 | isbn = 978-5-420-01606-0 }}</ref> or particularly "swift and swirling flow"<ref>V. Mažiulis, Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas, L-P, V., 1996, t. 3, p. 178-179</ref> in early times.

Etymologically, the name is one of a class of [[hydronym]]s, widespread in the modern and prehistoric Baltic ranges; e.g., Lithuanian Narotis, Narasa (rivers), [[Lake Narach|Narutis]] (lake), Old Prussian [[Narew|Narus]], [[Nara (Oka)|Nara]] near [[Moscow]]. These are related to Lithuanian ''narus'', "deep", and ''nerti'', "to dive".

More remote connections are obscure, although the root is believed to be [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]]. There are a number of possibilities:

*[[Julius Pokorny|Pokorny]]'s 2nd ''*ner-'', "under" (''[[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]'', pp765–766);
*Derksen's *{{lang|mis|nerH-}}, o-grade *{{lang|mis|norH-}} (''Slavic Inherited Lexicon'');
*A relation to the [[List of Greek deities|Greek god]] [[Nereus]], which may be from *''snau-'', "to give milk to", in the sense of "flow" (Partridge, ''Origins'' (1983)).
* Another relationship of "Neris" with the Sanskrit word "Neer"/"Naar" which means water.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}