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.