Fertile Crescent

English

The extent of the Fertile Crescent.

Etymology

Coined by University of Chicago archaeologist James Henry Breasted.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɜːtaɪl ˈkɹɛsənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɝːtəl ˈkɹɛsənt/

Proper noun

the Fertile Crescent

1. (historical) A crescent-shaped strip of fertile land stretching from present-day Iraq through eastern Turkey and down the Syrian and Israeli coasts.
   • 1914, James Harvey Robinson, James Henry Breasted, Charles Austin Beard, Outlines of European History: Earliest man, the Orient, Greece, and Rome:

     This great semicircle, for lack of a name, may be called the fertile crescent.

   • 1988, Charles Issawi, The Fertile Crescent, 1800-1914: A Documentary Economic History, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3:

     The Fertile Crescent has always been in close touch with the other parts of the Middle East: Turkey, Iran, the Arabian peninsula, and Egypt.

Translations

crescent-shaped arc of fertile land

• Arabic: الهلال الخصيب m
• Armenian: Բարեբեր կիսալուսին (Bareber kisalusin)
• Azerbaijani: Bərəkətli Hilal
• Catalan: Creixent Fèrtil m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 新月沃土 (xīnyuè wòtǔ)

• Estonian: Viljakas poolkuu
• Finnish: hedelmällinen puolikuu
• French: Croissant fertile (fr)
• Georgian: ნოყიერი ნახევარმთვარე (noq̇ieri naxevarmtvare)
• German: Fruchtbarer Halbmond (de) m
• Hebrew: הסהר הפורה
• Irish: Corrán Méith m
• Japanese: 肥沃な三日月地帯 (hiyoku na mikazuki chitai)
• Korean: 비옥한 초승달 지대 (biokhan choseungdal jidae)
• Persian: هلال حاصلخیز (helâl-e hâselxiz)
• Polish: Żyzny Półksiężyc (pl) m
• Portuguese: Crescente Fértil f
• Russian: (rare) плодородный полуме́сяц (plodorodnyj polumésjac)
• Spanish: Creciente fértil
• Swedish: bördiga halvmånen c
• Turkish: Bereketli Hilal
• Welsh: Cilgant Toreithiog m

Further reading

• Fertile Crescent on Wikipedia.Wikipedia