Benue (French: la Bénoué). A river, a left tributary of the Niger. It flows for 1400
kilometers across the territory of West Africa (Cameroon, Nigeria).
The
hydronym Benue is adapted and
reinterpreted by native speakers of African Bantu languages. In Cameroon and
Nigeria, the name of the river is explained in the meaning of «mother of waters».
But this is a secondary etymology of an ancient substratum hydronym inherited
from languages that functioned on former existential branches.
Etymology of the hydronym Benue
© A. F. Rogalev. General hydronymics. Regularities in the nomination of water bodies. – Gomel: Gomel State University named after Francysk Skaryna, 2006.
