The Llapi River is a river in the north-eastern part of Kosovo. The long right tributary to the Sitnica river, it is the main river in the Llap (region) depression.
Etymology The etymology of the river's name is derived from a pre-Slavic form Alb that underwent linguistic metathesis within Slavic giving the final form as Lab.Županić, Niko (1936). Značenje barvnega atributa v imeny "Crvena Hrvatska". Etnolog. p. 362. "Na ozemlju Dukljaninovic Bete Hrvatske se je namreč nahajalo mesto Lab, a stara srbska država Raša se je po njem razprostirala ad Lapiam et Lap, kar gotovo meri na župo in reko Lab, pritok Sitnice na Kosovem polju. Tu je menda nastopila znana slovanska likvidna metateza alb > lab, ali je treba pripomniti, da so ti koreni predslovanski, morda celo predindoevropski, kakor n. pr. pri Labi na severu (Albis). [In the territory of Croatia's Dukljaninovic has a place located called Lab, but the old Serbian state Raša is after stretching to Lapi or Lap, which certainly is measured at the region and the Lab river, a tributary of Sitnica in Kosovo Polje. There is apparently a known Slavic metathesis alb> lab, or these pre-Slavic roots, perhaps even in pre Indoeuropean as n. pr. the Elbe in the north (Albis).]"
The name of the river was first used in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, but has been preserved in the New Age.
Many scholars take the hydronym Lab as ancient and derive it from an alb-, from which lab-, alp- could come. The phonetic form for Albanian speakers is Llap. In the Middle Ages, the form Lapia is found.
History Near its origin are the remains of one of the medieval palaces of Serbian King Milutin (1282-1321) called Vrhlab.
Ottoman writer Evliya Celebi mentioned the Llapi river as having "its source in Albania" and joining other rivers before flowing into the Danube, during one of his travels to Kosovo in the 1660s.
Overview The Llapi River originates in the northernmost village of Podujevë, Murgull, with a secondary source in the village of Pollatë. After descending from the mountains, it flows southward through Podujevë. Near the village of Lupçi i Poshtëm, the Kaçandolli river joins it, as its right tributary. Close to Pristina and Obiliq, the river turns westwards of its origin and joins the Sitnica river, in the village of Lumadh. The width of the river changes due to the dynamics of rivers, it is around 9–12 meters at the hydrometric point in Lluzhan and it has a depth up to , that varies based on the season and the location.
See also List of rivers of Kosovo Geography of Kosovo
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