Var (river)

This article is about river in southern France. For river in Romania, see Var (Olt).

Var
Rooftops of Entrevaux and the gorge of the Var
Location
Country	France
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Maritime Alps
• elevation	1,800 m (5,900 ft)
Mouth
• location	Mediterranean Sea
• coordinates	43°39′13″N 7°11′59″E
Length	114 km (71 mi)
Basin size	2,812 km2 (1,086 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	50 to 100 m3/s (1,800 to 3,500 cu ft/s)

The Var (French: [vaʁ] ^ⓘ, Occitan: [ˈbaɾ]; Italian: Varo; Latin: Varus) is a river located in the southeast of France. It is 114 km (71 mi) long. Its drainage basin is 2,812 km² (1,086 sq mi).

The Var flows through the Alpes-Maritimes département for most of its length, with a short (~15 km or ~9 mi) stretch in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence département. It is a unique case in France of a river not flowing in the département named after it (see Var).

Until the beginning of the 19th century, the river had no bridges; it was the border between France and the County of Nice, then part of Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.

Name

The river name is attested in Latin as Vārus and in Ancient Greek as Ouãros (Οὐᾶρος). It stems from the Indo-European root *uōr- (earlier *uer-), meaning 'water, river' (cf. Sanskrit vār, Old Norse vari).

Hydrography

The Var rises near the Col de la Cayolle (2,326 m/7,631 ft) in the Maritime Alps and flows generally southeast to its outflow into the Mediterranean Sea between Nice and Saint-Laurent-du-Var. Its main tributaries are the Cians, the Tinée, the Vésubie, the Coulomp, the Estéron, the Tuébi, the Chalvagne, the Barlatte, the Bourdous and the Roudoule.

The Var flows through the following départements and towns:

• Alpes-Maritimes: Guillaumes
• Alpes-de-Haute-Provence: Entrevaux
• Alpes-Maritimes: Puget-Théniers, Carros, Saint-Laurent-du-Var

References

Bibliography

• Delamarre, Xavier (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental. Errance. ISBN 9782877723695.