I. Name

The MT refers to the Euphrates as Pĕrāt, ‘Euphrates’, nĕhar Pĕrāt, ‘River Euphrates’, and as (han)nāhār, ‘(the) River’. The designation hannāhār haggādôl, ‘the Great River’, was applied to the Euphrates (Gen. 15.18; Deut. 1.7; Josh. 1.4) as well as to the Tigris (Dan. 10.4). The two streams appear as a pair in the dual nah!rayim, ‘the two rivers’, confined to the expression ʾăram nahărayim, ‘(Western) Mesopotamia’.

Hebr Pĕrāt (and its Qumran variant Purat, פורת, 1QapGen. xxi 12, 17…