Kura River - Name

Name

The name Kura is related to the name of Cyrus the Great, emperor of Persia, or to an ancient Albanian term for 'reservoir.' The Georgian name of Kura is Mt'k'vari (in old Georgian Mt'k'uari), either from Georgian 'good water' or a Georgianized form of Megrelian tkvar-ua 'gnaw' (as in, "river that eats its way through the mountains"). The name Kura was adopted first by the Russians and later by European cartographers. In some definitions of Europe, the Kura River defines the borderline between Europe and Asia.

The river should not be confused with the Kura River, Russia, a westward flowing tributary of the Malka River in Stavropol Krai; the Kur River near Kursk, Russia; or the other Kur River near Khabarovsk, also in Russia.