Talk:Rhine

"At the end of WWI the Rhineland was subject to the Treaty of Versailles, which created lots of bitterness in Germany, and was one of the many reasons for World War II. The reoccupation of the Rhineland by Nazi Germany increased Hitler's popularity in Germany. " Is this quoted from someone's grade 10 history project?

Celtic renos is credited all over the Internet as signifying "raging flow." Does it? Are there any Celtic cognates to support this reading? Here would be the entry to discuss it. (Not ignorant me, needless to say.) Wetman 22:05, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I put the correct etymology. A cognate of Rhine is old Irish rian ("the sea"), but there are no cognates in modern Celtic languages. Hardouin 17:30, 7 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Meuse as a tributary of the Rhine?

This article lists the River Meuse as being a tributary of the Rhine. Yes, there is some intermixing of the waters in the lower reaches, but the Maas (Meuse) remains a separate river with its own mouth in the Hollandsch Diep, doesn't it? One of the Rhine's mouths is the IJssel, but no Maas/Meuse water flows there, for instance. I think there should at least be a note explaining that the Maas/Meuse is a "partial tirbutary" or somesuch (is there a real word for this situation?). Perhaps it should state that the two rivers share a common delta (in the list of tributaries, I mean; it's already in the main text), rather than demoting the Maas to a mere unqualified tributary. --Stemonitis 09:26, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The most famous example of this is the Brahmaputra-Ganges delta. Ideally, we should have a worldwide policy for this. I think that rivers that share a delta are generally considered as one river system, but you are right that there's a difference to a plain old tributary. So marking it a "partial tributary" seems a good idea. I would argue however that it makes no sense to separate the Rhine basin from the Meuse basin (to which basin does the area of the shared delta belong?!). I believe (can anybody confirm this?) the number given (185,000 km²) does indeed include the Meuse. --Chl 22:03, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

And while I'm here, wouldn't it make more sense to list all the tributaries together (noting which side they enter from), rather than separating the left-bank tributaries from the right-bank tributaries? --Stemonitis 09:26, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Railway bridges

There are railway bridges at Mainz and Koblenz, but I'd have to check what the nearest stations are. If someone happens to have that information to hand... Alai 04:52, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Outstanding

This article is getting to be outstanding. I can't think of any other encyclopedia that puts this info at your fingertips.Botteville 00:48, 28 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Commercial Traffic on the Rhine

It would be interesting if someone were to add a few paras on the use of the Rhine by commercial barge traffic. I am surprised to learn that these barges can travel when the water depth is as low as 85cm! is this right? And what are the effects of low water levels on traffic? Bearfoot 23:46, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Prehistory

I was just wondering if there really is a need for all of the subheadings under "prehistory"; the majority of them aren't even in use.