It is formed by the union of two branches, the Kara (the western Euphrates), which rises in the Armenian highlands of today's eastern Turkey north of Erzurum and the Murat (the eastern Euphrates), which issues from an area southwest of Mount Ararat, north of Lake Van. The river is approximately 2,780 kilometers (1,730 miles) long. It seems thus likely that the Old Persian name arose by popular etymology based on the pre-Iranian name of the river. However, the Indo-European etymology of the name is put into doubt by the Sumerian and Akkadian names for the Euphrates are Buranun and Pu-rat-tu, respectively, Buranun being attested in an inscription associated with king Gudea ( 22nd century BC). The modern Kurdish name, Ferat, is possibly a reduction of the older name. In Kurdish, fere means "wide", re means "flowing water" and hat is "flowing", giving fererehat, meaning "wide flowing water". Alternatively, some suggest that the name Euphrates is possibly of Kurdish origin. The name Euphrates may have originated from Old Persian Ufratu, as it were from Avestan *hu-perethuua, meaning "good to cross over" (from hu-, meaning "good", and peretu, meaning "ford"). In the Bible, God's promise to Abraham and his descendants (which also includes Isaac and Jacob) of the promised land extends to this river. The Euphrates (the traditional Greek name, Arabic: الفرات Al-Furat, Armenian: Եփրատ Yeṗrat, Hebrew: פְּרָת Perath, Kurdish: Ferat, Azeri: Fərat, Old Persian: Ufrat, Syriac: ܦܪܬ Frot or Prâth, Turkish: Fırat, Akkadian: Pu-rat-tu) is the westernmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia (the other being the Tigris).
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Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq