Leitha

Geschichte

The Leitha is a river in Austria and Hungary, a right tributary of the Danube.EtymologyThe Lithaha River in the Carolingian Avar March was first mentioned in an 833 deed issued by Louis the German, son of the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious and ruler over the stem duchy of Bavaria. The Old High German name lît probably referred to a Pannonian (Illyrian) denotation for "mud", as maintained in the former Hungarian name Sár (cf. mocsár: swamp).CourseThe Leitha rises in Lower Austria at the confluence of its headstream Schwarza, discharging the Schneeberg, Rax and Schneealpe ranges of the Northern Limestone Alps, with Pitten Creek. Between Ebenfurth and Leithaprodersdorf, and between Bruck an der Leitha and Gattendorf, the Leitha forms part of the border between the Austrian states of Lower Austria and Burgenland. East of Nickelsdorf, the river passes into modern Hungary, where it flows into the Moson arm of the Danube west of Szigetköz Island near Mosonmagyaróvár. Important towns on its course are Wiener Neustadt, Bruck and Mosonmagyaróvár.