Cubango River
/kuːˈbæŋɡoʊ ˈrɪvər/noun
A major southern African river that rises in Angola and flows southeastward into the Okavango Delta in Botswana.
Did you know?The Cubango becomes the Okavango in Namibia and Botswana, where its waters spread into an inland delta and disappear into the desert rather than reaching the sea.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Roman period
Local African languages
Cubango
“A traditional regional name whose precise original meaning is uncertain in surviving documentation.”
16th–19th Century
Portuguese
Cubango
“Portuguese colonial-era form of the river’s name in Angola; the name’s deeper local etymology remains disputed.”
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*reiH-
“A reconstructed root associated with flowing or moving; it is proposed as a remote ancestor of several water-related terms, though the exact chain to river is debated.”
Latin
Latin
rīpa
“Bank or shore of a river.”
Late Latin
Late Latin
rīparia
“Riverbank or river region; the source of the Romance word family behind river.”
12th–13th Century
Old French
riviere
“River or flowing watercourse.”
Modern English
English
river
“A natural watercourse flowing toward a sea, lake, or another river.”