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
Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River and inland waterway maintenance and implements projects in the frames of the Danube Strategy of the EU, Bulgarian-Romanian commissions, the Danube Commission, GIS Forum. Executive Agency for Exploration and Maintenance of the Danube River EAEMDR was established as an organization in 1935 under the name “Danube Hydrographical Service” within the structure of the Ministry of Railways. The headquarters were situated in the city of Lom and the responsibilities of the Service were related to the maintenance of the waterway, creation of maps of the Danube River, conduction of hydro meteorological surveys in the Bulgarian section of the river. In 1949,