الأردن

Arabic

Etymology

From جُنْد الْأُرْدُنّ (jund al-ʔurdunn), “the military district of Jordan”, probably straight out borrowed from the Aramaic isolect spoken there at the time, attested by the written Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and Jewish Literary Aramaic as יֹורְדְּנא (yordənā) and יַרְדְּנא (yardənā). Both forms give the present Arabic one regularly: The emphatic state ending was rendered by the Arabic article, and the distinction of the onset consonants /j/, /ʔ/ and /ʕ/ either had already little functional load, in the same fashion as the etyma of هُود (hūd), يَافُوخ (yāfūḵ), يَلَب (yalab), الْعِرَاق (al-ʕirāq) etc., or the onset يُـ (yu-) or the pattern of *يَرْدُن (*yardun) or *أَرْدُن (*ʔardun) in Arabic was hardly admissible and had to be regularized, that is classicized. See Hebrew יַרְדֵּן (yardén) for the ultimate derivation of the toponym.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.ʔur.dun/, /al.ʔur.dunn/

Proper noun

الْأُرْدُن or الْأُرْدُنّ • (al-ʔurdun or al-ʔurdunn) m

1. Jordan (a country in Western Asia, in the Middle East)

   الْأُرْدُنُ مُحَاطَةٌ مِنَ الشَّمَالِ بِسُورِيَا، مِنَ الْغَرْبِ بِفِلَسْطِينَ، وَمِنَ الشَّرْقِ بِالْعِرَاقِ، وَمِنَ الشَّرْقِ وَالْجَنُوبِ بِالْمَمْلَكَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ السُّعُودِيَّةِ.

   al-ʔurdunu muḥāṭatun mina š-šamāli bisūriyā, mina l-ḡarbi bifilasṭīna, wamina š-šarqi bi-l-ʕirāqi, wamina š-šarqi wāljanūbi bi-l-mamlakati l-ʕarabiyyati s-suʕūdiyyati.

   Jordan is surrounded from the north by Syria, from the west by Palestine, from the east by Iraq, and from the east and south by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

2. Jordan (a river in Western Asia, in the Middle East, that empties into the Dead Sea, flowing through Israel, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Jordan)
   • 1967, “زَهْرَة الْمَدَائِن [Flower of Cities]”, Said Akl (lyrics), Rahbani brothers (music)‎^[1]performed by Fairuz:

     وَسَتَغْسِلُ يَا نَهْرَ ٱلْأُرْدُنِ وَجْهِي بِمِيَاهٍ قُدْسِيَّة
     وَسَتَمْحُو يَا نَهْرَ ٱلْأُرْدُنِ آثَارَ ٱلْقَدَمِ ٱلْهَمَجِيَّة

     wasataḡsilu yā nahra l-ʔurduni wajhī bimiyāhin qudsiyya
     wasatamḥū yā nahra l-ʔurduni ʔāṯāra l-qadami l-hamajiyya

     And ye, o Jordan river, will wash my face with water of holiness;
     And ye, o Jordan river, will erase the traces of the barbaric feet.

Declension

Declension of noun الْأُرْدُن (al-ʔurdun)‎; الْأُرْدُنّ (al-ʔurdunn)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	—	الْأُرْدُن‎; الْأُرْدُنّ al-ʔurdun‎; al-ʔurdunn	—
Nominative	—	الْأُرْدُنُ‎; الْأُرْدُنُّ al-ʔurdunu‎; al-ʔurdunnu	—
Accusative	—	الْأُرْدُنَ‎; الْأُرْدُنَّ al-ʔurduna‎; al-ʔurdunna	—
Genitive	—	الْأُرْدُنِ‎; الْأُرْدُنِّ al-ʔurduni‎; al-ʔurdunni	—

Derived terms

• أُرْدُنِيّ / أُرْدُنِّيّ (ʔurduniyy)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “أردن”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
• “yrdn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “ywrdnn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–

South Levantine Arabic

Picture dictionary

الأردن

الأردن

عمّان

الزرقا

إربد

العقبة

معان

نهر
الأردن

البحر
الميّت

جبل أمّ
الدامي

وادي
رمّ

البترا

بلاد الشام

بلاد الشام

علم الأردن

Etymology

From Arabic الْأُرْدُنّ (al-ʔurdunn).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lʔur.dun/, [(ɪ)lˈʔʊr.dʊn]

• Audio (al-Lidd):

  (file)

Proper noun

الأردن • (il-ʔurdun) m

1. Jordan (a country in Western Asia, in the Middle East)
2. Jordan (a river in Western Asia, in the Middle East, that empties into the Dead Sea, flowing through Israel, the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Jordan)

   نهر الأردن ― nahr il-ʔurdon ― River Jordan

   Audio (Ramallah):

   (file)

Related terms

• أردني (ʔurduni, “Jordanian”)