Arabic-L:LING:Iraq etymology repost (with Greek letters)

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Sat 07 Mar 2007
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Iraq etymology repost (with Greek letters)

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1)
Date: 07 Mar 2007
From:"C.G.Häberl" <haberl at rutgers.edu>
Subject:Iraq etymology repost (with Greek letters)

[thanks to those who helped me get the Greek letters looking right! -- 
dil]

Dear Colleagues:

As far as I know, the site of Uruk (Biblical Erech) is known as  Warka:'
in
Arabic, possibly by way of Greek Ορχόη.  I'm  not
entirely sure how one could derive the name 3Ira:q from either   
Warka:' or
Ορχόη, but I've learned to be very wary of
etymologies that take such liberties with phonemic segments.  In this
case, you have three root consonants, of which you are substituting two
with completely separate phonemes.  Furthermore, there is no attempt at
demonstrating a regular correspondence between these segments in the two
languages.

A similar problem is posed by practically every other etymology I've
seen,
including one which derives the name Iraq from the Middle Persian word
e:rag.  Boyce translates this word as "south;" it is transparently
related
to the Middle Persian word e:r meaning "low," and elsewhere I've seen it
translated as "lowlands."  While the expected form *e:ra:g is
unfortunately not attested in Pahlavi to my knowledge, there is a modern
reflex i:ra:h which means "coast."

The correspondence between Middle Persian g and Arabic q is not
controversial, but determining a correspondence between the glottal stop
and Arabic 3ayn- is much more problematic.  According to Ja:7i6', the
Arabs around Kufa pronounced their language in the Naba6i: manner,
replacing the 3ayn- with hamza.  If we accept an etymology from *e:ra:g
we might adduce a hypercorrection here.  Thus "Iraq" would be the
low-lying river valley complement to the Iranian plateau.  Considering
that the territory known today as Iraq was part of an Iranian empire in
one form or another for a millennium or more, it would not surprise   
me to
find an Iranian etymology for the name.

With regard to the Arab Iraq (3ira:qu l-3arabi:) as opposed to the
"Persian" Iraq (3ira:qu l-3ajami:), this distinction did not arise  (as
far
as I know) until the Seljuk period, when the Seljuks ruled a territory
spanning both Iraq and the mountainous area formerly known as the Jebal.
Because the Arabic Iraq was the much more significant part of this
territory, it gave its name to the whole, but since the Seljuks ruled
from
Hamadan, it became necessary to distinguish between the two parts  
for  the
first time.  A similar development gave us the "Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies" (1816-1861), which was ruled from Naples.

-- 
Charles G. Häberl, PhD
Instructor in Middle Eastern Studies
Assistant Director, Development and Communication
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Lucy Stone Hall, Room B-316, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8045

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End of Arabic-L:  07 Mar 2007