العراق

Arabic

Root
ع ر ق (ʕ r q)
10 terms

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العراق

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Etymology

Medieval Arabic geographic understanding of this toponym included the areas in the south and center of modern Iraq. This may be understood as the definite form of عِرَاق (ʕirāq, “shore, coast, any region or area (of a whole country or a mere rivulet in a garden) adjacent to water as opposed to another one”), contradistinguished from الْجَزِيرَة (al-jazīra, “the Arabian Peninsula”), respectively, in Classical Syriac ܓܙܺܝܪܬܴ݁ܐ (gəzīrtā, “Mesopotamia”), but it is tempting to connect it with Middle Persian [script needed] (ˀyrg /⁠ērag⁠/) or [script needed] (ˀl'k' /⁠erāg⁠/, “lowlands”),^[1] like 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭 (ʾyrʾn /⁠ērān⁠/, “Iran”), with diminutive suffix from 𐭠𐭩𐭫 (ʾyl /⁠ēr⁠/, “Iranian”), referring to historic rule from Iraq’s plateau-situated neighbor, Persia. The former Pahlavi form is more closely reflected in a Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowl; together with the neighboring region, this marks it as אירג (ʔyrg /⁠*ērag⁠/), being the oldest extant witness of the country name.^[2] The Aramaic language continuum may have had a pharyngealized byform of the other vocalization, as also seen in عِرْنَاس (ʕirnās, “distaff”) and عَمْرُوسَة (ʕamrūsa, “small lamb”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /al.ʕi.raːq/

Proper noun

الْعِرَاق • (al-ʕirāq) m or f

Iraq (a country in Asia)

Usage notes

The definite article ال (al-) is indispensable.
Unlike the majority of country names, الْعِرَاق (al-ʕirāq) is usually a masculine noun.

Declension

Declension of noun الْعِرَاق (al-ʕirāq)

Singular	basic singular triptote
Singular	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	—	الْعِرَاق al-ʕirāq	—
Nominative	—	الْعِرَاقُ al-ʕirāqu	—
Accusative	—	الْعِرَاقَ al-ʕirāqa	—
Genitive	—	الْعِرَاقِ al-ʕirāqi	—

Related terms

عِرَاقِيّ (ʕirāqiyy)
عِرَاقِيَّة (ʕirāqiyya)

References

^ Shapira, Dan D. Y. (2009) “Irano-Arabica: contamination and popular etymology. Notes on the Persian and Arabic lexicons (with references to Aramaic, Hebrew and Turkic)”, in Христианский Восток – Новая Серия, volume 5 (XI), Moscow: Издательство Российской Академии Наук и Государственного Эрмитажа, page 163
^ See the Aramaic entry for the locus and the literature on it.