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
International Association for Danube Research International Association for Danube Research The International Association for Danube Research, or IAD, is the oldest NGO of an active network of scientists in the Danube River Basin of Europe. The board of the IAD is composed of the president, vice-president and general secretary, forming the presidium, and currently 12 representatives of member countries. Since 2017 Cristina Sandu is the president and Thomas Hein from BOKU Wien and Wassercluster Lunz the vice-president. Since 2018 Katrin Teubner (PD) from Universität Wien is the general secretary. The names of the country representatives and the expert group leaders can be found at the