<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Map of the combined Tigris--Euphrates drainage basin (in yellow) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Wikimedia Commons: Euphrates </Td> </Tr> <P> The Euphrates (/ juː ˈfreɪtiːz / (listen); Sumerian: 𒌓𒄒𒉣 Buranuna; Akkadian: 𒌓𒄒𒉣 Purattu; Arabic: الفرات ‎ al - Furāt; Syriac: ̇ܦܪܬ ‎ Pǝrāt; Armenian: Եփրատ: Yeprat; Hebrew: פרת ‎ Perat; Turkish: Fırat; Kurdish: Firat ‎) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia . Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (the "Land between the Rivers"). Originating in eastern Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al - Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf . </P> <P> The Ancient Greek form Euphrátēs (Ancient Greek: Εὐφράτης, as if from Greek εὖ "good" and φράζω "I announce or declare") was adapted from Old Persian 𐎢𐎳𐎼𐎠𐎬𐎢 Ufrātu, itself from Elamite 𒌑𒅁𒊏𒌅𒅖 ú - ip - ra - tu - iš . The Elamite name is ultimately derived from a name spelt in cuneiform as 𒌓𒄒𒉣, which read as Sumerian language is "Buranuna" " and read as Akkadian language is "Purattu"; many cuneiform signs have a Sumerian pronunciation and an Akkadian pronunciation, taken from a Sumerian word and an Akkadian word that mean the same . In Akkadian the river was called Purattu, which has been perpetuated in Semitic languages (cf . Syriac P (ə) rāṯ, Arabic al - Furrāt) and in other nearby languages of the time (cf . Hurrian Puranti, Sabarian Uruttu). The Elamite, Akkadian, and possibly Sumerian forms are suggested to be from an unrecorded substrate language . Gamkrelidze and Ivanov suggest the Proto - Sumerian * burudu "copper" (Sumerian urudu) as an origin, with an explanation that Euphrates was the river by which the copper ore was transported in rafts, since Mesopotamia was the center of copper metallurgy during the period . </P>

What countries does the euphrates river flow through