Editing Savinja (section)

== Hydronym and etymology ==
The name ''Savinja'' (attested in written sources in 980 as ''Sovuina'') is derived from ''*Savьn′a'', in turn derived from the [[hydronym]] ''Sava'', of which it is a [[tributary]]. The German name ''Sann'' was attested later. In the local dialect, the river is known as ''Sá{{IPA|u̯}}ńe''. The form *''Savьn′a'' should have yielded ''Savnja'' as the current Slovene name, but it was reshaped on the model of ''[[Hudinja (river)|Hudinja]]''. The name is believed to ultimately not be of Slavic origin, but of older pre-Slavic origin.<ref>Snoj, Marko. 2009. ''Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen''. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, p. 368.</ref>

The [[German language|German]] name ''Sann'' was also used in some older English sources; for example, in the ninth edition of [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]] from 1911.

Some other names for the river include:
* ''fluvius Sana'' (9th century)<ref name="udolph">{{cite web |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/36682 |title=Alteuropa in Kroatien: der Name der Sava/Save |first=Jürgen |last=Udolph |work=Folia onomastica Croatica |year=2003–2004 |format=PDF |access-date=2009-04-19 |language=de}}</ref>
* ''Souina'' (980)<ref name="udolph" />
* ''inter fluenta Souuuę et Sounę'' (1016)<ref name="udolph" />
* ''Seuna'' (1016)<ref name="udolph" />
* ''Souna'' (1025,1028)<ref name="udolph" />
* ''inter fluenta Souuuae et Sounae'' (1028)<ref name="udolph" />
* ''Sounital'' (1042)<ref name="udolph" />

The Celtic goddess [[Adsaluta]], whose altars were found in the area of the settlement of [[Sava, Litija|Sava]], was long identified with the Savinja.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEcpkWjYOZQC&dq=%2Bnymph+%2Bsavus&pg=PA17 |title= Patricia Turner and Charles Russel Coulter. Dictionary of ancient deities. Oxford University Press, 2000. |isbn= 978-0-19-514504-5 |last1= Turner |first1= Patricia |last2= Coulter |first2= Charles Russell |year= 2001 }}</ref> Modern scholars have rejected the connection.<ref>{{cite book |first=Marjeta |last=Šašel Kos |language=sl, en |url=http://iza.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/Sasel_Kos_Ukrocena_lepotica.pdf |chapter=Reka kot božanstvo - Sava v antiki |trans-chapter=River as a Deity – The Sava in Antiquity |editor-first=Jožef |editor-last=Barachini |title=Ukročena lepotica: Sava in njene zgodbe |trans-title=The Tamed Beauty: The Sava and Its Stories |isbn=978-961-92735-0-0 |year=2009 |place=Sevnica |publisher=Javni zavod za kulturo, šport, turizem in mladinske dejavnosti |pages=42–50 (44–46) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041135/http://iza.zrc-sazu.si/pdf/Sasel_Kos_Ukrocena_lepotica.pdf |archive-date=2016-03-04 }}</ref>