Israel

en-prop

Israel (countable and uncountable, plural Israels)

→ Japanese: イスラエル (Isuraeru)

From Middle English Israel, from Old English, borrowed from Latin Israel, from Ancient Greek Ἰσραήλ (Israḗl), from Hebrew יִשְׂרָאֵל (yisra'él, “Israel”). In the Bible, it is said to be from the name יִשְׂרֶה אֵל (yisré 'él) given to Jacob in he:T:29, after which his descendants came to be known as Israelites and their land as the "kingdom/land of Israel". The personal name, already attested in Eblaite 𒅖𒊏𒅋 (iš-ra-il) and Ugaritic 𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎛𐎍 (yšrỉl), has been variously translated as "he wrestles with God", "he prevails with God", or "God rules" (possibly from the same root ש־ר־ה/ש־ר־ר as שָׂרָה (“Sarah”)).
Line 27 of the Merneptah Stele (from about 1200 B.C.E.) is thought to contain the earliest attestation of the name Israel in any language, Egyptian ysrjꜣr.
: i-i-z:Z1s*Z1s:r-i-A-r:Z1*T14-A1*B1:Z2
Doublet of Yisroel.

(biblical) A Biblical region of Western Asia roughly coextensive with the modern State of Israel, known in the Bible as the Land of Israel and considered the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.


India

→ Gujarati: ઈન્ડિયા (īnḍiyā)

→ Hawaiian: ʻĪnia, ʻInia

→ Hindi: इंडिया (iṇḍiyā)

→ Bengali: ইন্ডিয়া (inḍiẏa)

→ Japanese: インディア

→ Kannada: ಇಂಡಿಯಾ (iṇḍiyā)

→ Kashmiri: इंडिया (iṃḍiyā)

→ Korean: 인디아 (india)

desc

→ Malayalam: ഇന്ത്യ (intya), ഇന്റ്യ (inṟya), ഇന്ദ്യ (indya)

→ Marathi: इंडिया (iṇḍiyā)

→ Tamil: இந்தியா (intiyā)

→ Telugu: ఇండియా (iṇḍiyā)

→ Yoruba: Íńdíà

Inherited from Old English India, Indea, from Latin India, from Ancient Greek Ἰνδία (Indía), from Ancient Greek Ἰνδός (Indós, “Indus river”), from Old Persian 𐏃𐎡𐎯𐎢𐏁 (hiⁿdūš), from Sanskrit सिन्धु (sindhu), ultimately from Proto-Indo-Iranian *síndʰuš (“river”).
Compare Middle English Inde and Ynde from Old French Ynde (original form started to prevail in the 16th century), Classical Persian هند (hind, “India”), Sanskrit सिन्धु (síndhu, “a river, stream”).

cog

(chiefly historical, proscribed in modern use) A region of South Asia, traditionally delimited by the Himalayas and the Indus river; the Indian subcontinent.


Punjab

From Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬ / پنجاب (pañjāb), from Classical Persian پَنْجَاب (panjāb, “[Land of] the Five Rivers”), from پَنْج (panj, “five”) and آب (āb, “water”), referring to five rivers of the Punjab region: the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Sutlej and the Beas. The Persian term is a translation of Sanskrit पञ्चनद (pañcanada, “[Land of] the Five Rivers”), from पञ्च (pañca, “five”) and नद (nada, “river”).

der

Islamabad Capital Territory
Islamabad Capital Territory

A geographical region of South Asia, divided (by the Radcliffe Line) between India and Pakistan. Pakistani Punjab includes the (West) Punjab Province and parts of the Islamabad Capital Territory; Indian Punjab includes (East) Punjab State and some other territories.


talent

From Middle English talent, from Old English talente, borrowed from the plural of Latin talentum (“a Grecian weight; a talent of money”), from Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “balance, a particular weight, especially of gold, sum of money, a talent”). Compare Old High German talenta (“talent”). Later figurative senses are from Old French talent (“talent, will, inclination, desire”), derived from the biblical Parable of the Talents.

For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew XXV:14-15:

(historical) A unit of weight and money used in ancient times in Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Middle East, equal to about 30 to 60 kg in various times and places.


Mediterranean

/ˌmɛdɪtəˈɹeɪnɪən/

/ˌmɛdɪtəˈɹeɪnɪən/

[mɛɾəɾəˈɹeɪnɪən]

Borrowed from Latin mediterrāneus, from medius (“middle”) + terra (“earth, land”) + -āneus (adjectival suffix).

conca del Mediterrani

A region of Southern Europe and North Africa and Western Asia. The region surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.


Palestine

→ Korean: 팔레스타인 (Palleseutain)

→ Malay: Palestin

Medinet Habu
Padiiset's Statue
Palestine

From Middle English Palestyne, from Old English Palestina, from Latin Palaestīna (“Roman province of Palestine”), from Ancient Greek Παλαιστίνη (Palaistínē, “Philistia and the surrounding region”), from Hebrew פְּלֶשֶׁת (p'léshet, “Philistia, land of the Philistines”). The term P-l-s-t or P-r-s-t, found in five Ancient Egyptian inscriptions (beginning with one at Medinet Habu from circa 1170 BCE and ending with Padiiset's Statue inscription from circa 900-850 BCE) as the name of a people near Egypt, is traditionally taken to be cognate. Seven Assyrian inscriptions contain the word "Palas(h)tu" or "Pilistu", which is usually also taken to be cognate.

Most Zionists hoped for a state of their own, but early in the 20th century, writers like Hillel Solotaroff and Chaim Zhitlowsky, both Yiddish-speaking immigrant intellectuals in New York, imagined another alternative: a federation of self-governing anarchist communes in Palestine that would defend Jewish life without relying on state power.

2019 July 15, Greg Afinogenov, “The Jewish Case for Open Borders”, in Jewish Currents, number Summer 2019:

The region in Western Asia in the Middle East between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.


Siberia

Adopted in the 17th century, from Russian Сиби́рь (Sibírʹ).
In origin the Tatar name of a 14th-century fortress at Qashliq (Tobolsk) which became the capital of the 16th-century Khanate of Sibir, in 16th century Russian usage extended to the entire area of what is now Tyumen Oblast, and with the ongoing Russian conquest of Siberia by the 19th century to the larger area of Russia's Asian territories beyond the Ob River.
The figurative sense in English arises in the 19th century (attested in 1841 according to OED).

The region of Russia in Asia, stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean.


Mesopotamia

From the Classical Latin Mesopotamia, from the Koine Greek Μεσοποταμία (Mesopotamía), a feminine substantive form of the adjective Μεσοποτάμιος (Mesopotámios, “between rivers”), from the Ancient Greek μέσος (mésos, “between”) + ποτᾰμός (potămós, “river”) + -ιος (-ios), so called because Mesopotamia is located between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Also used as a translation of the Biblical Hebrew נַהֲרַיִם (naharáyim), the dual form of נָהָר (nahár, “river”).

It was purchased by the Isle of Wight Railway in 1882, and continued to work between Brading and Bembridge until 1917, when it was taken over by the War Department, and sent overseas for war service in Mesopotamia, whence it never returned. It survived until at least 1921, when it was observed on the quayside at Basra.

1948 July and August, K. Westcott Jones, “The Isle of Wight Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 217:

A region in Southwest Asia spanning from the rivers Euphrates and Tigris that is the site of one of the most ancient civilizations in the history of man.


Middle East

desc

الشَّرْق الْأَوْسَط

→ Arabic: الشَّرْق الْأَوْسَط (aš-šarq al-ʔawsaṭ) (calque)

→ Azerbaijani: Orta Şərq (calque)

Сярэ́дні Усхо́д

→ Belarusian: Сярэ́дні Усхо́д (Sjarédni Usxód) (calque)

→ Catalan: Orient Mitjà (calque)

→ Czech: Střední východ (calque)

→ Dutch: Midden-Oosten (calque)

→ French: Moyen-Orient (calque)

→ German: Mittlerer Osten (calque)

Μέση Ανατολή

→ Greek: Μέση Ανατολή (Mési Anatolí) (calque)

→ Italian: Medio Oriente (calque)

→ Kazakh: Орта Шығыс (Orta Şyğys) (calque)

Среден Исток

→ Macedonian: Среден Исток (Sreden Istok) (calque)

→ Norwegian: Midtøsten (calque)

→ Persian: خاورمیانه (xâvar-e-miyâne) (calque)

→ Polish: Środkowy Wschód (calque)

→ Portuguese: Oriente Médio (calque)

→ Romanian: Orientul Mijlociu (calque)

Сре́дний Восто́к

→ Russian: Сре́дний Восто́к (Srédnij Vostók) (calque)

→ Spanish: Medio Oriente (calque)

→ Swedish: Mellanöstern (calque)

→ Turkish: Orta Doğu (calque)

→ Turkmen: Orta Gündogar (calque)

مَشْرِقِ وُسْطیٰ

→ Urdu: مَشْرِقِ وُسْطیٰ (maśriq-e vustā) (calque)

ئوتتۇرا شەرق

→ Uyghur: ئوتتۇرا شەرق (ottura sherq) (calque)

→ Uzbek: Oʻrta Sharq (calque)

Compound of middle + east formed in English, modeled on Far East and Near East. Attested from the latter 19th century.

Well, what may happen in the Middle East? I agree there are uncertainties, but when he was condemning the policy of the Government with regard to the Turkish peace, had he thought for a moment of the financial effect of the policy which he advocated?

1920 April 21, House of Commons, quoting Austen Chamberlain, “Budget proposals, Committee of Ways and Means”, in The Parliamentary Debates, volume 128, page 455:

(geopolitics, dated) The region between the Near East and the Far East.


Southeast Asia

A subregion of Asia, comprising the territories of Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

ອາຊີອາຄະເນ

ʼā sī ʼā kha nē


mina

Borrowed from Latin mina, from Ancient Greek μνᾶ (mnâ, “mna”). Compare maneh, from Biblical Hebrew מָנֶה (māne), as well as maund.

What then of the actual fine of thirty minae Socrates proposes? Thirty minae was a large sum, “the equivalent of approximately eight-and-one-half years′ wages," according to one recent estimate (Brickhouse and Smith 1988, 227); enough to buy a library of three thousand philosophy books, if the price of Anaxogoras′ book is any guide (26d6-e2).

1989, C. D. C Reeve, Socrates in the Apology: An Essay on Plato′s Apology of Socrates, page 174:

(historical) A monetary unit of ancient Greece and the Middle East, originally equivalent to the weight of a mina of silver.

Thirty minas of lapis lazuli in a solid block, two minas each their rims, six kor of oil, the capacity of both.

1999, Andrew George, transl., Gilgamesh, section VI:

(historical) A unit of weight of varying value used in the ancient Middle East, especially Babylonia, Mesopotamia and Egypt; also an ancient Greek measure of weight equivalent to 1/60th of a talent, approximately 400-700 grams.


Far East

(dated) East Asia (Korea, Japan, China, the Russian Far East, etc.), and Southeast Asia, taken as a whole.

Verre Ooste

East and Southeast Asia — see also East and Southeast Asia

Russian Far East
Russian Far East#English

Clipping of Russian Far East, a region in Russia.


Malaya

From Malay + -ia, Latinization of Malay. Compare English Malaysia.

The southern part of the Malay Peninsula and several nearby islands, currently forming the western part of the Federation of Malaysia, now known as West Malaysia.

(historical) An independent country in Southeast Asia from 1957 to 1963.


Levant

Borrowed from French levant (“rising, sun's point of rising”), form of lever (“to rise”), from Latin levō (“to rise”) (cf. also the present participle levāns), from levis (“light, not heavy”).

bor

The countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, namely Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus (and sometimes, especially in a historical context, also including Turkey and Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire).

مَشْرِق

the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea

Maghreb

where the sun sets; western Mediterranean


East Asia

Yu Shan or Jade Mountain, 3997 meters, is the highest mountain in Taiwan and all of east Asia. It is built of metamorphic rock, as are all the mountains in Taiwan.

1981 April, Michael R. Kelsey, “Asia”, in Climbers and Hikers Guide to the World's Mountains (Including 318 Maps), 1st edition, Springville, Utah: Kelsey Publishing Co., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 258:

The eastern part of Asia inclusive of China proper, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan and sometimes inclusive of Mongolia and Tibet and some or all of Southeast Asia and the Philippines.

East Asia
United Nations Statistics Division

ອາຊີຕາເວັນອອກ

ʼā sī tā wen ʼǭk


Ossetia

Borrowed from Russian Осе́тия (Osétija), from Georgian ოსეთი (oseti), from ოსი (osi, “Ossetian (person)”).

North Ossetia-Alania
North Ossetia-Alania

An ethnolinguistic region on the border of Europe and Asia, located on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians. The northern part of the region forms North Ossetia-Alania federal subject of Russia. The southern part is South Ossetia.


Indochina

/ˌɪndoʊ̯ˈt͡ʃaɪ̯nə/

/ˈɪndoʊ̯ˌt͡ʃaɪ̯nə/

From Indo- + China, modelled after French Indochine. Name first proposed in the early 19th century by Scottish poet and orientalist John Leyden and later first used in Précis de Géographie universelle by Conrad Malte-Brun.

(historical) The former French colonial part of Southeast Asia comprising the peninsula containing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.


Turan

From Classical Persian توران (tūrān), originally meaning "the Land of Tur".

Light was happiness; and the people of Iran, the land of light, were the favourites of heaven; while those of Turan, the gloomy region beyond the mountains to the north, were its enemies.

1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 25:

(historical) A region of Central Asia, originally populated by Iranian Central Asian nomads; later, Iranians came to identify Turkic neighbours as Turanians.


Central Asia

Средняя Азия
Средняя Азия

A landlocked area of continental Asia comprising Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In the USSR and the modern Russia, the area is called Middle Asia (Средняя Азия).


MENA

Middle East News Agency
w:Middle East News Agency

(politics) Initialism of Middle East News Agency (a Cairo-based news agency, established 1955, nationalized and affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Information in 1960.)

Middle East News Agency

2006, The MENA region is anything but stable today, A. H. Cordesman, K. R. Al-Rodhan, The Changing Dynamics of Energy in the Middle East, →ISBN, page 65:

(politics) Initialism of Middle East and North Africa.


Near East

The region located south of Eastern Europe, comprising Anatolia, Transcaucasia, the Levant, and Mesopotamia.


Koreas

Scores of foreign journalists have been dispatched to Seoul to report on the growing tensions between the two Koreas and the possibility of war.

2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times:

Korean Peninsula
Korean Peninsula#English

A region of Korean Peninsula, East Asia, Asia. North Korea and South Korea, collectively.


South Asia

All the countries of the Indian subcontinent (principally India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan) and the Indian Ocean (principally Sri Lanka, Maldives)

Azi Jugore

all the countries of the Indian subcontinent (principally India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan) and the Indian Ocean (principally Sri Lanka, Maldives)


Nusantara

From Indonesian Nusantara, from Javanese Nusantara (ꦤꦸꦱꦤ꧀ꦠꦫ, “the islands, Indonesia”), from Old Javanese nūsāntara (“the outer islands”).

der

(historical, archaic) A region of Southeast Asia. The conquered territories of the Majapahit empire, corresponding to present-day Indonesia (main) and several Southeast Asian countries.


qafiz

From Arabic قَفِيز (qafīz), from Aramaic קְפִיזָא and Classical Syriac ܩܦܝܙܐ (qəp̄īzā), of uncertain derivation from Egyptian, Akkadian, and similar units. Doublet of cahiz and cafiso. Cognate with Ancient Greek καπίθη (kapíthē).

Aramaic קְפִיזָא

(historical) A traditional Arab unit of volume, varying over time, place, and substance measured.

قَفِيز

Traditional Arab unit of volume or its various medieval equivalents


Chorasmia

From Latin Chorasmia, from Ancient Greek Χορασμία (Khorasmía), from Old Persian 𐎢𐎺𐎠𐎼𐏀𐎷𐎡𐏁 (u-v-a-r-z-mi-i-š /ʰuvārazmī-/).

A large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia.


Kalimantan

A region in Southeast Asia; the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.


Malay Archipelago

the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia, that includes Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, East Malaysia and East Timor


Lycaonia

From Latin Lycāonia, from Ancient Greek Λυκαονία (Lukaonía).

(historical) A large region in interior Asia Minor, north of the Taurus Mountains.


Inner Asia

A region of Asia, usually comprising of what is now Central Asia, Mongolia (including Inner Mongolia), and Northeastern China, particularly as an area of historically strong pastoralist influence in contrast to surrounding sedentary civilizations.


West Asia

The westernmost region of Asia, which includes Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Sinai Peninsula, and Transcaucasia.


Coromandel

Coromandel Coast
Coromandel Coast#English

Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent#English

Ellipsis of Coromandel Coast.: A region of South Asia, Asia, Eurasia; The southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west.


Deccan

Deccan (canonical)
the Deccan (canonical)

→⇒ New Latin: deccanensis

Borrowed from Hindustani दक्खिन / دکھن (dakkhin) and its variants, from Prakrit 𑀤𑀓𑁆𑀔𑀺𑀡 (dakkhiṇa), from Sanskrit दक्षिण (dakṣiṇa, “south”).

So counſel'd hee, and both together went / Into the thickeſt Wood, there ſoon they choſe / The Figtree, not that kind for Fruit renown'd, / But ſuch as at this day to Indians known / In Malabar or Decan ſpreds her Armes / Braunching ſo broad and long, that in the ground / The bended Twigs take root, and Daughters grow / About the Mother Tree, […]

1667, John Milton, “Book XIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signatures Ii2, verso – [Ii3], recto; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1099–1106:

Dekkan, or the ſouthern diviſion of “Hindooſtan, called by European geographers, The Peninſula, has varied in boundary, at different periods, with the poſſeſſions of its rulers in adjacent provinces.

1794, Jonathan Scott, “Introduction”, in Ferishta's History of Dekkan, from the First Mahummedan Conquests […] , volume I, page ix:

The spies affirmed, that busy fame, / Declared aloud the gallant name, / Of Hussein Khan, the Sooltan’s son, / Whose brand in battle oft had shone, / And spread his youthful glory wide, / Till stood he forth the Dekhan's pride,— / Now called the Moslem force to lead, / And fire their souls to vengeance dread.

1822, “Canto V”, in Heera. The Maid of the Dekhan. A poem. In Five Cantos., pages 109–10:

In India, it is generally considered that the earliest Muslims to settle in the Deccan were the Arabs of the Navayat clan, who had made the Konkan their permanent home about the year a.d. 701 when they fled from the Kufah (in the Euphrates valley) to escape the cruelties of the governor, Hajjaj bin Yusuf. Even prior to the Muslim conquest of the Deccan, the Rashtrakutas had Arabs and Abyssinians in their armies.

1996, Shanti Sadiq Ali, The African Dispersal in the Deccan: From Medieval to Modern Times, pages 27–28:

A large plateau in southern India; southern or peninsular India.


Hauran

A volcanic plateau and geographic area located in southwestern Syria and extending into the northwestern corner of Jordan.


Mashreq

The Arabic lands from Egypt and the Sudan eastwards.


North Asia

The northern region of Asia, also referred to as Siberia, geographically coextensive with the Asian part of Russia.


Baikalia

A region of the Russian Far East, Asian Russia, Russia; surrounding Lake Baikal


Northeast Asia

People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China#English

A region of Asia, bordering the west coast of the northern Pacific. A region of the world composed of the Koreas, mainland Japan archipelago, northern China. Sometimes including variously Mongolia, Outer Manchuria, Sakhalin, the Kurils, Kamchatka, the whole of the Russian Far East, the whole of the People's Republic of China, the whole of Japan.


axis of resistance

Calque of Arabic محور المقاومة. First used in 2002 in Libya in response to George W. Bush's "axis of evil".

calque

محور المقاومة

The news agency said Assad and Jalili discussed their two countries' "strategic cooperation relationship" and "attempts by some Western countries and their allies to strike at the axis of resistance by targeting Syria and supporting terrorism there."

2012 August 7, “Iran: We're in "axis of resistance" with Syria”, in CBS:

Oddly, the Islamic Republic claims that Israel “lost five wars with the Axis of Resistance since the July 2006 war with the Lebanese resistance.”

2021 August 7, Seth J. Frantzman, “Iran claims Israel afraid of conflict with its 'axis of resistance'”, in the Jerusalem Post:

Iran’s axis of resistance consists of a network of political parties and armed groups that span Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

2022 July 14, Nancy Ezzeddine, Hamidreza Azizi, “Iran's Increasingly Decentralzed Axis of Resistance”, in War on the Rocks:

The Houthis have fought and largely won a nine-year civil war against Yemen’s government — which is supported by Riyadh. They are thought to be one of the members of the axis of resistance most closely controlled by Iran.

2024 January 14, Jason Burke, “Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’ is a potent coalition but a risky strategy”, in the Guardian:

(geopolitics) An Iranian-led, anti-American, anti-Zionist, Shiite Islamist coalition in the Middle East whose significant participants include the IRGC, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.


Syria-Palestine

A region in the Middle East consisting roughly of Syria, Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, and Jordan

𒆳𒂊𒄵𒀀𒇉

land in and around the eastern Mediterranean Sea

עֲבַר נַהֲרָא

ʿăḇar nāhārâ

עֲבַר נַהֲרָה

ʿăḇar nāhārâ