Arabic-L:LING:Towards and Etymology of Iraq
Dilworth Parkinson
dilworth_parkinson at BYU.EDU
Wed Feb 14 17:01:50 UTC 2007
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1) Subject:Towards and Etymology of Iraq
-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 14 Feb 2007
From: "Dr. M. Deeb" <muhammaddeeb at gmail.com>
Subject:Towards and Etymology of Iraq
Towards an Etymology of Iraq:
I. Forward:
I’ve known this Server List for over twelve years and it
has been all along noted for its dispassionate quest of linguistic
knowledge in a climate of mutual courtesy and respect. I’m afraid
no so recently, for I’ve noticed a measure of abrasiveness, stemming
most likely from hasty reading, unrestrained personal zeal or both.
When I posted my earlier short note on Iraq, I primarily sought to
point out two things: (1) one lexo-philological, showing how Arab
classical authorities provide conflicting and uncertain etymology of
Iraq (being only one instance of many); (2) and the other, a
purposeful aside, underlining the tragic state of present-day Iraq,
thanks to Imperial aggression and violation of human rights.
Further, the raw material in the post, including the Persian
phrases, is quoted verbatim and fully documented from the respective
sources of Ibn ManZuur, al-Fayruuzabaady and as-SuyuuTiyy (who
himself quotes al-ASma’iyy). It is thus clear in my post that I
haven’t tempered with or glossed the Arabic or Persian content, and
most particularly, I haven’t approached or authenticated the
etymology of Iraq per se.
II. Historical Background:
(1) Turning to etymology, one finds that, from the second century
BCE, Greek writers used Mesopotamia, (fem. of mesopotamos < mesos =
middle + potamos = river>). It denotes the land between the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers. Mesopotamia occurs eight times in the New
Revised Standard Version. In the first two cases, the Hebrew /
‘aram nahaarayim / (= Aram of the two rivers); the Hebrew
transliterated as /Aram-naharaim/ in the NRSV three times. The
Septuagint has /Mesopotamia/ at Genesis 24.10, and Deuteronomy 23.4,
but Judges 3.8, and “Syria of Mesopotamia” at 1 Chronicles 19.6.
(2) British soldiers called Iraq Mespot in 1917. On the subject,
Arabs refer endearingly to Iraq as (بلاد ما بين
الرافدين) and to Egypt as (بلاد وادي النيل),
i.e., “he land of the Nile Valley.”
(3) The biblical narrative of the mighty hunter Nimrod, who
established a kingdom in Shinar (Babylonia), ties together three or
four of the most famous cites: Babel, Erech, Accad (Akkad) ( and
Calneh) of early Babylonian history:
¨ The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of
them in the land of Shinar (The Oxford Annotated Bible, Genesis, 10.10).
¨ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (The Scofield Reference Bible,
Genesis, 10.10).
(4) The Oxford maps of the Near East in the times of the Assyrian and
Persian empires use the biblical name Erech (and Uruk
parenthetically). Similarly, the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh has /
Uruk/ as its setting.
II. My personal argument:
Rather than thinking of “Iraq” as derived from the triliteral
verb / noun (ر- ق - ع), with all its denotational imports of
“root” or “vein,” and connotational suggestions of “deep-
rooted” and “noble decent,” I’d strongly argue that the
Arabic name ( عراق) is, in all likelihood, an Arabic version of
the Assyrian-com-biblical /Erech/ or the Sumerian /Uruk/. The Arabic
naturalization of the Assyrian, then Hebrew name /Erech/ or the
Sumerian /Uruk/ entails the regular process: vowel and consonantal
change; i.e., insertion of the initial / ‘ayn = ع /, and turning
the terminal letter /ch/ or /k/ into a /qaaf = ق / and the
adjustment of vowels. (Cf. Eden and /عدن /).
The problem, or one of the problems of Arabic lexicography, is that
seemingly cognate, but unrelated words are lumped under one entry,
as is evident in / عراق ، عرق /
and / /جمل ، جمال ، حساب الجمًل (for camel,
beauty and using the numerical values of the letters of the
alphabet). In my view, this renders the derivation of Iraq from (ر-
ق - ع) untenable. Far from philology and reckless imperial madness,
Iraq is and will always remain a country of noble descent, deeply
rooted in our hearts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
*MD
I’ve used the references below:
¨ Kraeling, Emile G. Rand McNally Bible Atlas. 1946; rpt. 1952.
¨ May, Herbert G. and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The Oxford Annotated
Bible. 1962.
¨ Metzger, Bruce M. and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The Oxford
Companion to the Bible. 1993.
¨ Scofield, C. I., ed. The New Scofield Reference Bible. 1967.
[here is the original formatted version:]
Towards an Etymology of Iraq:
I. Forward:
I’ve known this Server List for over twelve years and it
has been all along noted for its dispassionate quest of linguistic
knowledge in a climate of mutual courtesy and respect. I’m afraid
no so recently, for I’ve noticed a measure of abrasiveness, stemming
most likely from hasty reading, unrestrained personal zeal or both.
When I posted my earlier short note on Iraq, I primarily sought to
point out two things: (1) one lexo-philological, showing how Arab
classical authorities provide conflicting and uncertain etymology of
Iraq (being only one instance of many); (2) and the other, a
purposeful aside, underlining the tragic state of present-day Iraq,
thanks to Imperial aggression and violation of human rights.
Further, the raw material in the post, including the Persian
phrases, is quoted verbatim and fully documented from the respective
sources of Ibn ManZuur, al-Fayruuzabaady and as-SuyuuTiyy (who
himself quotes al-ASma’iyy). It is thus clear in my post that I
haven’t tempered with or glossed the Arabic or Persian content, and
most particularly, I haven’t approached or authenticated the
etymology of Iraq per se.
II. Historical Background:
(1) Turning to etymology, one finds that, from the second century
BCE, Greek writers used Mesopotamia, (fem. of mesopotamos < mesos =
middle + potamos = river>). It denotes the land between the Tigris
and Euphrates rivers. Mesopotamia occurs eight times in the New
Revised Standard Version. In the first two cases, the Hebrew /
‘aram nahaarayim / (= Aram of the two rivers); the Hebrew
transliterated as /Aram-naharaim/ in the NRSV three times. The
Septuagint has /Mesopotamia/ at Genesis 24.10, and Deuteronomy 23.4,
but Judges 3.8, and “Syria of Mesopotamia” at 1 Chronicles 19.6.
(2) British soldiers called Iraq Mespot in 1917. On the subject,
Arabs refer endearingly to Iraq as (بلاد ما بين
الرافدين) and to Egypt as (بلاد وادي النيل),
i.e., “he land of the Nile Valley.”
(3) The biblical narrative of the mighty hunter Nimrod, who
established a kingdom in Shinar (Babylonia), ties together three or
four of the most famous cites: Babel, Erech, Accad (Akkad) ( and
Calneh) of early Babylonian history:
¨ The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of
them in the land of Shinar (The Oxford Annotated Bible, Genesis, 10.10).
¨ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar (The Scofield Reference Bible,
Genesis, 10.10).
(4) The Oxford maps of the Near East in the times of the Assyrian and
Persian empires use the biblical name Erech (and Uruk
parenthetically). Similarly, the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh has /
Uruk/ as its setting.
II. My personal argument:
Rather than thinking of “Iraq” as derived from the triliteral
verb / noun (ر- ق - ع), with all its denotational imports of
“root” or “vein,” and connotational suggestions of “deep-
rooted” and “noble decent,” I’d strongly argue that the
Arabic name ( عراق) is, in all likelihood, an Arabic version of
the Assyrian-com-biblical /Erech/ or the Sumerian /Uruk/. The Arabic
naturalization of the Assyrian, then Hebrew name /Erech/ or the
Sumerian /Uruk/ entails the regular process: vowel and consonantal
change; i.e., insertion of the initial / ‘ayn = ع /, and turning
the terminal letter /ch/ or /k/ into a /qaaf = ق / and the
adjustment of vowels. (Cf. Eden and /عدن /).
The problem, or one of the problems of Arabic lexicography, is that
seemingly cognate, but unrelated words are lumped under one entry,
as is evident in / عراق ، عرق /
and / /جمل ، جمال ، حساب الجمًل (for camel,
beauty and using the numerical values of the letters of the
alphabet). In my view, this renders the derivation of Iraq from (ر-
ق - ع) untenable. Far from philology and reckless imperial madness,
Iraq is and will always remain a country of noble descent, deeply
rooted in our hearts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
*MD
I’ve used the references below:
¨ Kraeling, Emile G. Rand McNally Bible Atlas. 1946; rpt. 1952.
¨ May, Herbert G. and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. The Oxford Annotated
Bible. 1962.
¨ Metzger, Bruce M. and Michael D. Coogan, eds. The Oxford
Companion to the Bible. 1993.
¨ Scofield, C. I., ed. The New Scofield Reference Bible. 1967.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
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