Erech
/ˈɛr.ɛk/noun
A biblical name for the ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk, identified with the archaeological site of Warka in modern Iraq.
Did you know?Erech is the Hebrew form of Uruk, one of the world’s earliest true cities and a major setting in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where kings, gods, and monsters collide.
Etymological Timeline
Late 4th Millennium BCE
Sumerian
Unug
“The Sumerian name of the city later known as Uruk.”
3rd Millennium BCE
Akkadian
Uruk
“The Akkadian form of the city’s name, used in Mesopotamian royal and administrative texts.”
1st Millennium BCE
Hebrew
אֶרֶךְ (ʾEreḵ)
“The biblical name Erech, listed among the cities associated with Nimrod in Genesis.”
Antiquity
Greek
Ὀρέχ (Oréch)
“A Greek rendering of the Mesopotamian city name, also appearing in classical geographical traditions as Orchoe.”
19th Century
English
Erech
“The conventional English biblical and historical form for ancient Uruk.”
Modern English
English
Erech
“A proper noun referring to ancient Uruk, whose ruins lie near Warka, Iraq.”