Euphrates
euph·ra·tes
noun
a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf; was important in the development of several great civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia
Origin
From Latin Euphrātēs, from Ancient Greek Εὐφράτης (Euphrátēs), from Old Persian 𐎢𐎳𐎼𐎠𐎬𐎢 (u-f-r-a-tu-u /ʰUfrātuš/), from Akkadian 𒀀𒇉𒌓𒄒𒉣 (^(ÍD)Purattu), from Sumerian 𒀀𒇉𒌓𒄒𒉣 (^(ÍD)Buranun) (compare Elamite 𒌑𒅁𒊏𒌅𒅖 (ú-ip-ra-du-iš), Classical Syriac ܦܪܬ (P(ə)rāṯ)). The Elamite, Akkadian, and possibly Sumerian forms are either from an unrecorded substrate language, or from Proto-Sumerian *𒁍𒍏 burudu "copper" (Sumerian 𒍏 (urudu)) with an explanation that Euphrates was the river by which the copper ore was transported in rafts, since Mesopotamia was the center of copper metallurgy at the period.
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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.