Niger, Nigir, Nigris

(Νίγειρ, Νίγιρ). A great river of Aethiopia Interior, which modern usage has identified with the river called Joli-ba (i. e. Great River) and Niger in West Africa. Many of the ancients imagined the Niger to be a branch of the Nile (Pliny , Pliny H. N. v. 30; viii. 77). Ptolemy states that a branch of the Niger communicated with Lake Libya (probably Lake Tchad), and mentions a city Thamondocana (Timbuctoo?) as situated on the river itself (Ptol. iv. 6, 14). The name seems to be based upon an African word geir, gar, or jir, “river.” See Africa.