Danube name meaning "strong, swift" (akin to Sanskrit "iṣiras" "swift"). In Latin, the Danube was variously known as ' or as '. The Dacian/Thracian name was "Donaris" for the upper Danube and "Istros" for the lower Danube. The Thraco-Phrygian name was "Matoas", "the bringer of luck". The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, except Slovenian, (the name of the Rhine is also masculine in Latin, most of the Slavic languages, as well as in German). The German "Donau" (Early Modern German "Donaw, Tonaw", Middle High German "Tuonowe") is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the
Bulgarian lands across the Danube Bulgarian lands across the Danube In the Middle Ages the Bulgarian Empire controlled vast areas to the north of the river Danube (with interruptions) from its establishment in 681 to its fragmentation in 1371-1422. These lands were called by contemporary Byzantine historians "Bulgaria across the Danube". Original information for the centuries-old Bulgarian rule there is scarce as the archives of the Bulgarian rulers were destroyed and little is mentioned for this area in Byzantine or Hungarian manuscripts. After the disintegration of Great Bulgaria following Khan Kubrat's death in 668 a large group of Bulgars followed the third son of the