Nilus

Meaning

1. Nile (a large river in Africa, usually considered to be the longest river in the world; its basin covers Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, flowing north through Khartoum and Cairo into the Mediterranean Sea)

   Nilus sēo ēa hire ǣwielme is nēh þǣm clife þǣre Rēadan Sǣs; þēah sume men seċġen þæt hire ǣwielme sīe on westende Affrica nēh þām beorge Athlans, ⁊ þonne fol raðe þǣs sīe ēast irnende on þæt sond, ⁊ þonne besince eft on þæt sand, ⁊ þǣr nēh sīe eft flōwende up of þǣm sande, ⁊ þǣr wyrcð miċelne sǣ.

   The source of the River Nile is near the edge of the Red Sea, though some people say that its source is in the western end of Africa near the Atlas Mountains, and that it immediately flows east of the sands, and then sinks back down into the sand, and near there it flows up again from the sand, and there forms a great sea.

   late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans