Danube once appears as the mother of Vrtra, "a dragon blocking the course of the rivers." The Finnish word for Danube is Tonava, which is most likely derived from the word for the river in Swedish and German, "Donau". Its Sámi name "Deatnu" means "Great River". It is possible that "dānu" in Scythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": "Dnieper" and "Dniestr", from "Danapris" and "Danastius", are presumed to continue Scythian "*dānu apara" "far river" and "*dānu nazdya-" "near river", respectively. The river was known to the ancient Greeks as the "Istros" (Ἴστρος) a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian
Danube Banovina within a federal Socialist Yugoslavia. Instead of the name Danube Banovina, the province officially gained its historical name of Vojvodina, with capital at Novi Sad. The new province consisted of Syrmia, Banat and Bačka regions. Baranja was included into the People's Republic of Croatia, while Šumadija and Braničevo were included into Serbia Proper. Some large cities of the Danube Banovina were: Danube Banovina The Danube Banovina or Danube Banate ( / Дунавска бановина), was a banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of the geographical regions of Srem, Bačka, Banat, Baranja, Šumadija, and Braničevo.