This article lists the various etymologies (origins) of the names of rivers around the world. Africa Apies: from Afrikaans meaning "little apes". Berg: from Afrikaans meaning "mountain". Blood: from the Battle of Blood River, where 600 voortrekkers fought off 20,000 attacking Zulu troops. No voortrekkers were killed, but the dead Zulus (3,000 died) stained the nearby river with blood, and so the name stayed. Breede: from Afrikaans meaning "wide". Escravos: from Portuguese meaning "slaves". Forcados: from Portuguese meaning "forked". Gamtoos: probably derived from a Khoikhoi clan whose name was given by early Dutch settlers as "Gamtousch". Komati: from siSwati meaning "cow". Liesbeek: named after a small river in the Netherlands. Modder: from Afrikaans meaning "mud". Mooi River (KwaZulu-Natal) and Mooi River (Vaal): from Afrikaans meaning "beautiful". Niger: from the Tuareg phrase gher n gheren meaning "river of rivers", shortened to ngher. Nile: from Greek Neilos (Νεῖλος), sometimes derived from the Semitic Nahal "river." Nossob: from Khoikhoi meaning "black river". Ohlanga: from Zulu meaning "reed". Olifants: from Afrikaans meaning "elephants". Omi Osun: from Yoruba meaning "waters of the spirit-goddess Ọṣun". Orange: from Afrikaans "Oranje", meaning Orange, which was named after William V, Prince of Orange. Palala: from Sotho meaning "one that inundates". Vaal: from Afrikaans meaning "dull". Antarctica Alph River: name is from the opening passage in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, Kubla Khan Onyx River: so named because of the relationship of the 15th, 14th, 25th and 24th letters of the alphabet in Onyx Asia Amur: Mongolian "rest" Angara: Buryat angarkhai "the mouth of a wild beast" Aravand-rud: Persian "fast river" Brahmaputra: Sanskrit "son of Brahma" Chao Phraya: Thai เจ้าพระยา "river of kings" Dongjiang: Chinese "east river" (東江) Ganges: Sanskrit Ganga Indus River: Sanskrit Sindhu generically means "river, stream, ocean" Jordan River: Hebrew Yarden, Arabic Urdunn from the root .י.ר.ד‎ / وَرَدَ‎ meaning "to go down". Mekong: Thai Mae Khong (แม่ โขง), "mother of all rivers" Ob: Komi "snow, snowdrift, place of snow" Pearl River: from Chinese 珠江 (Mandarin: Zhu Jiang; Cantonese: Zyü Gong) named after a sandy or stony island in the middle of the river called "Sea Pearl" (now reduced to a bank in the river) Satule: Red River Sefid-rud: Persian "White river" Selenge: Mongolian "for swimming" Tigris River: Sumerian "running water" Wang Thong: From Thai วังทอง, "Gold Palace" Chang Jiang: Chinese "long river" (長江), from jiang 江 (Old Chinese: kˁrong), argued to be from earlier Proto-Austroasiatic *krung "river"?