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
Nazi rule over the Danube River Germany and Italy had withdrawn and Britain and France were nonfunctioning members. "German quarters noted with satisfaction that this ends the existence of a valuable source of information for the Allies on the economic situation in Danubian territory," reported the "New York Times." Meanwhile, the upstream International Danube Commission was undergoing similar Nazi-imposed changes. The Reich had pulled out of the commission in November 1936, with an announcement that it was assuming "full sovereignty" over all German watercourses. After the Anschluss in 1938, Austria's membership also came to a close. Early in 1940, German sources were quoted in the "Times"