The Origin Name of Erbil

“Every region and every nation knows or recognizes its heritage. Every community seeks to keep its history alive to maintain or discover their roots: the guarantor of community’s future” Stone and Bajjaly (2008)

To understand the history of Erbil, it is important to consider its name and identify its meaning. Erbil is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city to carry a consistent name throughout history. The name Erbil (figure1) appears in different literature in various written forms, such as Ur-bi-lum, Ur-bi-el, Arba-il, Arbira, Arbil, Erbil and Hawler. It first appears in Sumerian Cuneiform Ur III as Ur-bi-lum and in the Ebla text as Irbilum, in Babylonian sources as Urbēl/Urbiel and Neo-Assyrian era it was recorded as Arbail or Arab-ilu, when it was a major religious shrine to the goddess Ishtar (MacGinnis 2014, pp. 19-24; Doxiadis 1958, p. 5).

With regard to Arbail, Arba in Akkadian means four, il means God (four Gods) - it is interesting that the pronunciation of four in Arabic is similar to arba, and the pronunciation of ilah (God) is similar to il in Akkadian. From 15 to 116 CE Erbil was the capital of Adiabene or Arbeletis, an ancient independent kingdom located between the Greater and Lesser Zab Rivers. The Greeks

referred to the city as Arbila, while Arab references alluded to as Irbil and Arbil. In Persian writings, it is introduced as Arbaira, and in the Turkish language during the Ottoman period, it was also called Irbil (Houtsma 1987, p. 521; Ismail 1986, p. 62, Doxiadis 1958, p. 5).

In the Kurdish language, the name of Erbil is Hawler as pronounced by the Kurds. Hay (1920, p. 20) wrote the spelling of Hawler in his book ’Two Years in Kurdistan: Experiences of a Political Officer, 1918-1920’, as Haulair, when he was referring to the Erbil/Arbil plain. The name Hawler may also have originated from the word Erbil too, as, in the Kurdish language the name Erbil changed verbally from Arbila to Arbira, Arbil, Aurblel, Arwiel, Awalera, Hawlera and, currently, Hawler; the letters ‘r’, ‘ī’, and ‘l’ in Kurdish remaining unchanged as the pronunciation of the Kurdish language as spoken in Erbil used to omit some letters (Hussyein 2015; Ismail 1986, p. 37; Baqir and Safar 1966, p. 6).

Other scholars suggest that the name originated Haw-lera (here is), which, in the Kurdish language is an expression used by travellers arriving in the city after a long journey, or from Khawler meaning the Temple of the Sun, the Ishtar temple (Al-Chawishli 1985, p. 17), which is a weak source because it has no references.

Currently, the official name is ‘Erbil’ in English and Arabic, and ‘Hawler’ in Kurdish.

In conclusion, it can be seen how authentic the name of Erbil city is. A city that kept carrying similar names throughout the history; these interesting phenomena is very rare as it is hardly to find cities carrying similar name for thousands of years (Aleppo for example is one of these cities).

The Figure shows the persistence of the name ‘Erbil’ in the main ancient civilisations

Source: Modified from (MacGinnis 2014, p. 19)

REFERENCES: Doxiadis Associates, 1958. Ekistic Analysis of the Town of Arbil - DA Projects: Iraq V.128- Reports R-QBP (July-December1958). Archive files 24002, Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archives, hosted at the Benaki Museum, Athens.

Hay, W.R., 1921. Two years in Kurdistan: experiences of a political officer, 1918-1920. 1st ed. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.

Houtsma, M.T., 1987. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936, Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill.

Hussyein, M., 2015. Professor in History, Salahaddin University: Interview with Farah Al-Hashimi, Erbil, 24 April.

Ismail, Z.B., 1986. The History of Erbil: A general historical study about the city of Erbil and its surroundings, from the ancient ages till world war1. 1nd ed. Al-Najaf: Āl-Nu’mᾱn.

MacGinnis, J., 2014. A City from the Dawn of History: Erbil in the Cuneiform Sources. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books.

Al-Chawishli, H.R., 1985. Turᾱth Erbīl Āltarīkhī. Mosul: University of Mosul.

Baqir, T. and Safar, F., 1966. Al-Murshid ila Mawatin Alathar w Alhadhara. Baghdad: Ministry of Culture and Guidance.