Leitha

Leitha
Lajta
Leitha; Lajta
	The Leitha near Kleinwolkersdorf
Location
Countries	Austria and Hungary
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Lanzenkirchen, southern Vienna Basin
• coordinates	47°44′11″N 16°13′49″E / 47.73639°N 16.23028°E
Mouth
• location	Danube near Mosonmagyaróvár
• coordinates	47°52′8″N 17°17′17″E / 47.86889°N 17.28806°E
Length	120.8 km (75.1 mi)
Basin size	2,138 km2 (825 sq mi)
Basin features
Progression	Danube→ Black Sea

The Leitha (German: [ˈlaɪtaː] ^ⓘ; Hungarian: Lajta or Lajtha, formerly Sár(-víz); Slovene: Litva; Czech and Slovak: Litava) is a river in Austria and Hungary, a right tributary of the Danube. It is 120.8 km (75.1 mi) long (168.5 km (104.7 mi) including its source river Schwarza).^[1] Its basin area is 2,138 km² (825 sq mi).^[2]

Etymology

The Lithaha River in the Carolingian

Illyrian) denotation for "mud", as maintained in the former Hungarian name Sár (compare mocsár, 'swamp

').

Course

The Leitha rises in

states of Lower Austria and Burgenland. East of Nickelsdorf, the river passes into Hungary, where it flows into the Moson arm of the Danube west of Szigetköz Island near Mosonmagyaróvár. Important towns on its course are Wiener Neustadt

, Bruck and Mosonmagyaróvár.

Large amounts of the Schwarza headstream waters are diverted to supply the Wiener Neustadt Canal and the drinking water supply of Vienna. Furthermore, several canals diverge from the Leitha, feeding spinning companies in the past, today small hydroelectric power plants.

Between Seibersdorf and Hof am Leithaberge, most of the water in the Leitha is removed for this purpose. From there on, the Leitha usually runs dry, unless its flow further upstream is abnormally high. Downriver from Katzelsdorf the river bed is almost completely dry as well.

Legends

At the Leitha Ursprung (or Source) in the small town of Lanzenkirchen, there is a hiking trail, a stone with a plaque to mark the origin point and three wooden figures that represent the legendary Leitha Hexen (witches).

According to the sign next to the three wooden women, "Once upon a time, real witches lived in the waters of the Leitha. They were small, like children, skinny and hunchbacked, with tangled hair that reached down to their knees and webbed fingers and toes."

"The witches mostly splashed around under the bridges, but anyone who teased them or watched them met a bad end."

"One evening a man was overcome by the desire to tempt the Leitha witches. When he heard them in the water, he put both hands around his mouth and shouted: 'Hoo hoo!' ”

"Then he hurried away laughing. But he didn't get far, because suddenly countless bony hands wrapped around him and pulled him to the ground! No amount of struggling and struggling helped; he couldn't even call for help. He only felt a wet cloth being pressed over his mouth, then his senses faded."

"When he came to again, he was lying on the banks of the Leitha, on the border with Katzelsdorf. But the Leitha witches were nowhere to be seen or heard."^[4]

Historic border

After the

Babenberg margrave Leopold I

.

Around the turn to the 2nd millennium, the Hungarian frontier (Gyepű) ran along the Leitha shore, from 1156 onwards it formed the eastern border of the

Galicia and Bukovina, which were part of Cisleithania, were north-east of Hungary. Likewise, the Morava River formed the border between Cisleithanian Moravia and the Transleithanian lands of present-day Slovakia (Upper Hungary

).

Republic of Austria

(as Burgenland), whereby the course of the river became an inner Austrian border.