Seine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the river in France. For other rivers named Seine, see Seine River (disambiguation). For the old Seine département, see Seine (département). A seine is also a kind of fishing net, see: seine (fishing).
| Seine | |
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 The Seine viewed from the Eiffel Tower. The Place de la Concorde is at top right.
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| Origin | Burgundy |
| Mouth | The English Channel |
| Basin countries | France |
| Length | 776 km (482 mi) |
| Source elevation | 471 m (1,545 ft) |
| Avg. discharge | 500 m³/s (17,660 ft³/s) |
| Watershed area | 78,650 km² (30,367 mi²) |
The Seine (pronounced /sɛn/ in French) is a major river of south-western France, and one of its commercial waterways. It is also a tourist attraction, particularly within the city of Paris.
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Origin of the name
The name "Seine" comes from the Latin Sequana, which itself comes from Gaulish (Celtic) Sicauna. The name Sicauna is made up of Celtic sakw, which means "sacred" and comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *sak- (which also gave Latin sacer and sanctus, which in turn gave English sacred and saint), and from a Celtic (or more probably Pre-Indo-European) suffix -onna which means "source, river", and which can be found in the name of many rivers of western Europe (such as the Garonne or the Dordogne). The name "Sakw -onna" ("sacred source", "sacred river"), is also the name of several other western European rivers, such as the Saône River, and possibly also the River Shannon.
Another proposed etymology posits that Sequana is the Latin version of Gaulish Isicauna. Is-Icauna would be the diminutive of Icauna, which was the Gaulish name of the Yonne River. The ancient Gauls considered the Seine to be a tributary of the Yonne, which indeed presents a greater average discharge than the Seine (the river flowing through Paris should be called Yonne if the standard rules of geography were applied). Icauna comes from the Pre-Indo-European roots inka -onna. Further research will be needed to decide between both etymologies.
Further downstream in what is now Normandy, the Seine was known as Rodo, or Roto, which is a traditional Celtic name for rivers, and is also the original name of the Rhône River (see Rhône article for further explanations). This is proved by the name of Rouen, which was Rotomagos in Gaulish, meaning "field, plain (magos in Gaulish, whose meaning evolved into "market") of the Roto".
Navigation
The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen, 120 km (75 miles) from the sea. Commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine, 560 km (350 miles) from its mouth. At Paris, the river is only 24 metres (80 feet) above sea level, 445 km (277 miles) from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable.
The tidal section of the river, from Le Havre to well beyond Rouen, is followed by a canalized section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise river at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Then two more multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, where the mouth of the Marne River is located. Upstream from Paris seven more locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès (where the Loing mouth is situated). Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Monterau. From the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream the Seine till Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only navigable for small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes. This canal has been abandoned for many years now. (Source: NoorderSoft Waterways Database)
History
In ancient times the Seine was known by the Latin name Sequana.
Dredging in the 1960s mostly eliminated the tidal bore ("le mascaret") and the surrounding area. It was split into four départements in 1968: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne. See: Seine (département).
The Banks of the Seine in Paris were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1991.
See also
Seine (département) Bateau-mouche Sightseeing boats of the Seine
