The Covurlui river is minor tributary running through the northern part of Galați county and the name Covurlui has probably been used since the 15th century for the plain surrounding the Covurlui river.^[1] Ținutul Covurlui was one of the counties formed in the 1864 reorganisation of the administration of Romania until it was absorbed into the large new county of Galați in 1950. Ținutul Covurlui originally included four Plasa administrative zones; Plasa Prutul de Jos with the city of Galați, Plasa Bujor with the market town of Târgul Bujor, Plasa Pechea or Siret with the market town of Pechea, Plasa Horincea with the market town of Berești.^[2]

The ethnographic zones recorded are based on the river valleys – Valea Horincei and Valea Suhurluilui,^[3] and the northern plateau area around Berești (in Plasa Horincea) which is connected to the Central Moldavian Plateau.^[4]

Hydronyms in southern Moldavia that are close to the Black Sea have a high number of Turkic origins.^[5] There appears to be no clear consensus on the etymology of Covului. Gustav Weigand’s suggestion that it came from Cuman (Turkic) meaning “small” + “river” has linguistic difficulties which have been addressed by other authors. Moldovanu concludes the derivation is of Pecheneg origin (10th century) plus a likely consonantal change specific to the later Cuman language in the 11th century.^[6] However, a later proposal suggests it is a derivation from Cuman for swans or reeds.^[7]