AFGHANISTAN أفغانستان (Country) Pashto, Arabic, Urdu, Indian, Hindi, English, German, Dutch, French, ItalianFrom Pashto
افغانستان (Afghanistan), from the Persian ethnic name
افغان (Afkhan) meaning "Afghan, Pashtun" combined with the Persian suffix
ستان (stan) meaning "land of". This is the name of a country in central Asia.
ASHUR آشور (Settlement & Region) English, Arabic, Persian, AkkadianFrom Akkadian
𒀸𒋩 (Assur), meaning unknown. This was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, supposedly named for the god
Ashur, though the god was in fact probably named for the city. The empire, Assyria, was also named for it. The city was destroyed in the 14th century by the forces of Tamerlane.
... [more] BATRA بتراء (Settlement) ArabicArabic form of
PETRA. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article:
البتراء (al-Batra).
HIND هند (Country) ArabicArabic form of
INDIA, usually written with the definite article:
الهند (al-Hind).
HIRA حراء (Other) ArabicMeaning unknown. This is the name of the cave near Mecca where the Prophet
Muhammad received his first revelation.
IRAN إيران (Country) Persian, Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Croatian, SerbianDerived from Middle Persian
Eran, related to Old Iranian
Arya meaning
"Iranian, Aryan". This is the name of a country in western Asia, formerly called
Persia in the West.
IRAQ عراق (Country) Arabic, English, Italian, CatalanFrom Arabic
العراق (al-'Iraq), probably derived from the name of the ancient Sumerian/Akkadian city of
URUK. This is the name of a country in the Middle East.
KURDISTAN كردستان (Region) Kurdish, Arabic, English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, RussianFrom Kurdish
کوردستان (Kurdistan), from the Persian ethnic name
کرد (Kord) meaning "Kurd" combined with the Persian suffix
ستان (stan) meaning "land of". This is the name of the region in the midst of Iran, Iraq and Turkey that is primarily inhabited by the Kurdish people.
MAGHRIB مغرب (Region & Country) ArabicFrom Arabic
المغرب (al-Maghrib) meaning
"the place of the sunset, the west". This is the Arabic name of
Morocco as well as the entire region of western North Africa (known as
the Maghreb in English). In Arabic the name is usually written with the definite article:
المغرب (al-Maghrib).
NIL نيل (River) Arabic, French, German, Luxembourgish, Catalan, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, AzerbaijaniForm of
NILE in various languages. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article:
النيل (al-Nil).
QUDS قُدْس (Settlement) ArabicMeans
"holy" in Arabic. This is the Arabic name for
Jerusalem, usually written with the definite article:
القُدْس (al-Quds).
SAMARRA سامَرّاء (Settlement) Arabic, English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French, GermanThis is the name of a city in Iraq, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century. It was possibly built at the site of the ancient Assyrian city of
Surmarrati, which is of uncertain meaning.
SIN صين (Country) ArabicArabic form of
CHINA. It is properly written with the definite article:
الصين (al-Sin).
SUDAN سُودان (Country) English, Arabic, German, ItalianFrom Arabic
سُود (sud) meaning
"black", referring to the darker skin of the inhabitants. This is the name of a country in Africa. In Arabic it is properly written with the definite article:
السُودان (al-Sudan).
TIMBUKTU تمبكتو (Settlement) English, Arabic, Central African, BamilekeMeaning uncertain. It could be derived from Songhai meaning
"hollow, hole", or from Berber meaning
"place of small dunes". This is the name of a city in central Mali. Descriptions of the city's wealth and remoteness first reached Europe from the 16th-century Berber author Leo Africanus. Since then the city has been used in Western Culture as a symbol for a distant, mysterious place.