Category: Toponyms

Hadhramaut is derived from a Semitic root meaning “south,”, a direct cognate of Phoenician Hadrumetum and Hebrew הדרום (ha-darom, “the south”)

Judas Cave lies tucked within the honeycombed limestone of Qarah Mountain, a place where the desert light fractures across pale cliffs and the air cools as you step into the mountain’s interior. The mountain itself rises just outside the urbanized part of Al‑Hasa (N.E. Arabia). Its fluted ridges and narrow passages inviting the kind of…

Chaldea: an ancient toponym designates a geomorphologically and historically delimited region comprising the extreme meridional sector of Mesopotamia together with the northwestern littoral zone of the Arabian Gulf. “In the early period, between the early 9th century and late 7th century BC, (Chaldea) was the name of a small sporadically independent migrant-founded territory under the…

abraham burial site: The identification of biblical “Hebron” with “Hebron” of the West Bank, should not be taken for granted.

After 129 B.C., with the decay of the Seleucid empire, a predominantly ethnically Arab kingdom arose in Lower Iraq,

Etymology of Iraq: “Iraq” is originally a colouronym, (a word that specifically identifies a particular color or hue). Iraq denotes a shade of color that is rather dark: grayish-black, dark-green or brownish-yellow.

Fossil coral records provide new evidence that frequent winter shamals, or dust storms, and a prolonged cold winter season contributed to the collapse of the ancient Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia.

The meaning of Egypt is: “narrow passage”, in referring to the narrow land bridge, between the Levant and North Africa.

It is generally agreed that (ăpăr), in ancient Hebrew, denotes dust and similar material.

The name “Qatraye” is derived from “ܩܵܛܹܪ/qāṭīr” which means: “Line”.