אירג

Aramaic

Etymology

From Middle Persian [script needed] (ˀyrg /⁠ērag⁠/) or [script needed] (ˀl'k' /⁠erāg⁠/, “lowlands”), like 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭 (ʾyrʾn /⁠ērān⁠/, “Iran”) but with diminutive suffix from 𐭠𐭩𐭫 (ʾyl /⁠ēr⁠/, “Iranian”), comprehending a plain opposed to the plateaus of Persia.

Proper noun

אירג • (ʔyrg /*ērag/) (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic)

1. Iraq, the southern end of Mesopotamia
   • Seleucid era, Iraqi Museum 76106 = Nippur 11 N 78, copied, transcribed and translated in Oriental Institute Communications (OIC) (in German), volume 22, 1934, pages 121 and 151–152, with further circumstantial data and literature at Müller-Kessler, Christa (2005) Die Zauberschalentexte in der Hilprecht Collection, Jena, und weitere Nippur-Texte anderer Sammlungen (Texte und Materialien der Frau Professor Hilprecht Collection of Babylonian Antiquities im Eigentum der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena; 7), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, page 64, copied, transcribed and translated again at Ford, James Nathan (2011) “A New Parallel to the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic Magic Bowl IM 76106 (Nippur 11 N78)”, in Aramaic Studies, Leiden: Brill, →DOI, pages 249–277:

     אשבעית עליכון רוחי ככל וערב רוחי אירג ומישון רוחי פרת ודגלת נהרה תדיזעון

     I hereby adjure you, spirits of Babylonia and Arabia, spirits of Iraq and Mesene, spirits of the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, that you be off!