Savinja


The Savinja is a river in northeast Slovenia which flows mostly in the Upper and Lower Savinja Valley and through the cities of Celje and Laško. The Savinja is the main river of the Savinja Alps. It flows into the Sava River at the town of Zidani Most. It has often flooded, such as in the 1960s, 1990, and 1995. The Savinja has a length of and a catchment area of.

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Savinja are the Jušef and the Klobaša at Solčava, the Lučnica at Luče, the Ljubnica at Ljubno, the Dreta at Nazarje, the Paka at Šmartno ob Paki, and the Ložnica and Voglajna with the Hudinja at Celje.

Water quality

The quality of water is first-class to Radmirje, then it falls to second class and after to third.

Hydronym and etymology

The name Savinja is derived from *Savьn′a, in turn derived from the hydronym Sava, of which it is a tributary. The German name Sann was attested later. In the local dialect, the river is known as Sáńe. The form *Savьn′a should have yielded Savnja as the current Slovene name, but it was reshaped on the model of Hudinja. The name is believed to ultimately not be of Slavic origin, but of older pre-Slavic origin.
The German name Sann was also used in some older English sources; for example, in the ninth edition of Encyclopædia Britannica from 1911.
Some other names for the river include:
  • fluvius Sana
  • Souina
  • inter fluenta Souuuę et Sounę
  • Seuna
  • Souna
  • inter fluenta Souuuae et Sounae
  • Sounital
The Celtic goddess Adsaluta, whose altars were found in the area of the settlement of Sava, was long identified with the Savinja. Modern scholars have rejected the connection.

Life along the river

Raftsmen from Ljubno traveled along the river until the 1950s. In their memory, a bronze sculpture of a raftsman, created in 1961 by Boris Kalin, stands on the river's left bank in Celje.