Talk:Euphrates

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[edit] political tensions? that's something new in the ME

the euphrates river is the source of political tension, as turkey, Syria, and Iraq all compete for the use of its waters for irrigation and the generation of hydroelectric power

There is a subsection touching on these issues. --Wetman 23:47, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

An anon blanked this talk and replaced with a comment (Gareth Hughes 23:19, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)):

the euphrates river is 1739 miles long and 2799kilometers long when it is combined with the tigris river, it becomes shatt al arab — 24.41.63.108.

[edit] Inconsistency re: Lake Van

The Lake Van article says that the lake is saline with no outlet, but Euphrates says that Lake Van is one of the sources of the river. They can't both be right. Anyone have any clarification here? Gwimpey 22:00, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

OK, I did a little more research and found out that, in fact, Lake Van is not a source of the Euphrates; see [1], for instance.Gwimpey 22:15, August 2, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Malayo-Polynesian

What is the relevance of mentioning Malayo-Polynesian? Isn't it rather far fetched to suggest an etymology without a source based on Malayo-Polynesian? And why is Pangasinan taken as an example? Meursault2004 00:01, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

The Sumerian names for the Tigris and Euphrates appear to have a word correspondence in sound and meaning to words in Malayo-Polynesian, a language spoken by an ancient seafaring people who sailed the Pacific and Indian oceans, and even settled the island of Madagascar near Africa. In some Malayo-Polynesian languages spoken in the Philippines and Indonesia, the word siglat, which means "swift," "fast" or "rapid," appears similar to the Sumerian name Idigna and the Akkadian name Idiglat for the Tigris. The Malayo-Polynesian word burakan,chvnc which means "wave," "wavy," or "surf" appears similar to the Sumerian name Buranun and Akkadian name Pu-rat-tu for the Euphrates.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Batobalani (talk • contribs) 03:22, 13 June 2006.
This is a fringe theory that violates Wikipedia's rules on no original research, verifiability and reliable sources. That is why it was removed from the article. If you want it included in the article, you will have to make sure that it meets the criteria set out in the policies and guidelines above. Also, do not remove other people's posts on talk pages. — Gareth Hughes 09:29, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

--Nature freak 18:27, 18 May 2007 (UTC)--Nature freak 18:27, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology needs a major cleanup

The name derivation section right now looks completely crazy to anyone who knows anything about etymology or the Iranian languages. Kurdish and Old Persian are both Iranian languages -- Kurdish is Northwest Iranian while Old Persian is Southwest Iranian.

It is certainly possible that the origin of the word "Euphrates" is from one of the Iranian languages, but you're never going to find out which one by using their modern analogues! It would be like trying to figure out whether a given river in Germany was inhabited by Anglo-Saxons or some other Germanic people by comparing modern English to modern German.

Some referenced arguments for an etymology in the Iranian languages are really needed here. --Saforrest 20:14, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree that the etymology section is confusing and suspect, also from the Greek perspective. My Greek is pretty rusty, but it seems to me that -- looking at the clear patterns for the name of the river being something along the lines of PRT or FRT from very early on -- the Greek name "Euphrates" is some combination of Gk. eu ("well, good") plus the earlier non-Greek name (prt), with a Greek masculine ending -es. But the derivation of -phrat from roos, as suggested in the text that's there now, makes no sense -- where does the [ph] come from? If anything, -phrat- suggests a possible folk etymology having to do with kinship (Greek phratre, meaning tribe) -- in other words, to Greeks of the period, it's possible that the name "Euphrates" evoked a meaning along the lines of "good tribe". But that folk meaning is obviously irrelevant to the actual origins of the PRT portion of the name, which clearly predate the Greek version of the name. Perhaps someone with a better background in the area and relevant languages could clear this up?

CranstonShenir (talk) 03:43, 18 December 2007 (UTC)CranstonShenir

[edit] Basin countries

What are the criteria to include Jordan within the basin countries? Is there any geological or map's contour standard for this? I think it is quite far and not related neither in environment nor the elevation, as a valley! Ralhazzaa 13:33, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Consistency

Article currently reads in part The Khabur and the Balikh River join the Euphrates in eastern Syria... Both rivers have their origins in Turkey. Downstream, through its whole length, the Euphrates receives no further water flow.

Does that mean that neither the Khabur River nor the Balikh River contribute anything? Surely not... while the Khabur doesn't flow for much of the year, it does flow sometimes, and the Balikh is a major watercourse, according to their respective articles. I think I can see what it's trying to say, but it's not correct as is, and a lot more complicated than it might seem. Andrewa 19:52, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Islamic Prophesies

The Euphrates dries up to reveal gold/riches. Does this refer to oil reserves? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.239.210.244 (talk) 21:05, 8 February 2008 (UTC)