Timok

Timok
Great Timok
View of the Timok at Baley, Bulgaria
Map
Native name
Location
CountrySerbia, Bulgaria
CitySerbia: Zaječar, Brusnik
Bulgaria: Bregovo, Baley
Physical characteristics
SourceZaječar, Serbia
 • locationJunction of the Beli Timok and the Crni Timok
 • coordinates43°55′12″N 22°17′52″E / 43.92000°N 22.29778°E / 43.92000; 22.29778
MouthDanube
 • location
north of Bregovo, Bulgaria / east of Negotin, Serbia
 • coordinates
44°12′49″N 22°40′13″E / 44.21361°N 22.67028°E / 44.21361; 22.67028
Length202[1] km (126 mi)
Basin size4,626[2] km2 (1,786 sq mi)
Discharge 
 • locationmouth
 • average31 m3/s (1,100 cu ft/s)
Basin features
ProgressionDanubeBlack Sea
Tributaries 
 • leftCrni Timok
 • rightBeli Timok

The Timok (Serbian and Bulgarian: Тимок; Romanian: Timoc), sometimes also known as Great Timok (Serbian: Велики Тимок, romanizedVeliki Timok; Romanian: Timocul Mare), is a river in eastern Serbia, a right tributary of the Danube. For the last 15 km of its run it forms a border between eastern Serbia and western Bulgaria.

It is a branchy system of many shorter rivers, many of them having the same name (Timok), only clarified with adjectives. From the farthest source in the system, that of the Svrljiški Timok, until its confluence (as Veliki Timok), the Timok is 202 km long.[1] The area of the river basin is 4,626 km2 (1,786 sq mi).[2] Its average discharge at the mouth is 31 m3/s (1,100 cu ft/s).[3] The Timok Valley is known for the most important Vlach population in Eastern Serbia.

Its name stems from antiquity, in Latin it was known as Timacus and in Ancient Greek Timachos", Τίμαχος.[4]

This in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European *tm̥Hes-, zero-grade of *témHes-, *témHos- (“darkness”), an s-stem from the root *temH- (“dark”), also present in the names of the Thames and Tamiš/Temes/Timiș, possibly with extension "-q" for water (present in Latin "aqua").

  1. ^ a b Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia 2017 (PDF) (in Serbian and English). Belgrade: Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. October 2017. p. 16. ISSN 0354-4206. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b Velika Morava River Basin, ICPDR, November 2009, p. 2
  3. ^ "Danube River Basin District, Part A - Roof Report" (PDF). ICPDR. April 2004. p. 12.
  4. ^ The Cambridge Ancient History Vol. 10, John Boardman, p 579, 1996, ISBN 978-0-521-85073-5