Iraqi people The Iraqi people (Arabic: العراقيون ʿIrāqīyūn, Kurdish: گه*لی عیراق Îraqîyan, Aramaic: ܥܡܐ ܥܝܪܩܝܐ‎ ʿIrāqāyā) or Mesopotamian people (Arabic: شعب بلاد ما بين النهرين) are the native inhabitants of the country of Iraq, (also known as Mesopotamia), and their related diaspora. From late Assyrian and Babylonian times until the early Islamic era, the Iraqi people spoke Aramaic but also witnessed a minority Arab presence. Arabic had been a minority language in Iraq since the 8th century BC, it was spoken in Hatra in the 1st and 2nd centuries, and by Iraqi Christians in Al-Hirah from the 3rd century, and from the 8th century following the Muslim conquest of Persia it became the common language of Iraqi Muslims, due to Arabic being the language of the Qur'an and the Caliphate. This change was facilitated by the fact that Arabic being a Semitic language, shared a close resemblance to Iraq's traditional languages of Akkadian and Aramaic. Some of Iraq's Christians and Mandaeans retained dialects of Aramaic, since it remained the liturgical language of their faiths. Kurdish-speaking Iraqis live in the mountainous Zagros region of northeast Iraq to the east of the upper Tigris. The Kurds and Arabs of Mesopotamia have interacted and intermarried for well over a millennium. Modern genetic studies indicate that Iraqi Arabs and Kurds are very closely related. Arabic and Kurdish are Iraq's national languages. Historical names Iraqis, from Arabic: عراقيين ʻIrāqīyīn; from العراق al-ʿIrāq, from Aramaic: Erech. The contemporary name comes from the Aramaic name of Uruk (Erech), which became the designation for Babylonia some time after the decline of Babylon under the Seleucid and Parthian occupations. This name rendered as العراق al-ʿIrāq in Arabic, became established during the Islamic period as the designation for Babylonia. Over the last millennium its usage by governors and geographers increasingly came to comprehend upper Mesopotamia (ancient Assyria / contemporary northern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan). Mesopotamians, from Greek: Μεσοποτάμιοι Mesopotάmioi; from Μεσοποταμία Mesopotamίa ("Land between [the] rivers"). This was the classical name used by the Ancient Greeks and Romans after the 4th century BC. It is derived from the Aramaic: Beth Nahrain (Neo-Aramaic: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ) ("House of [the] rivers") which is attested since the 10th century BC as a designation for upper Mesopotamia. The name was used briefly after World War I during the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, as it was the common name in Europe by which the region was known. It would probably be in use today however the name became tarnished by colonialism during the British occupation, and the Iraqi state therefore decided to use the endonym Iraq (العراق al-ʻIrāq) as the official name. The Constitution of Iraq refers to the Iraqi people as "the people of Mesopotamia." Babylonians, from Akkadian: Babilaya; from Bābilu, via Greek: Βαβυλωνιοι Βabylōnioi. This name was used in Late Babylonian cuneiform texts during the Achaemenid, Seleucid and Parthian periods as a self-designation for the people of central-southern Iraq (Babylonia). During the Sassanian period (224--638), following the decline of the city of Babylon under the preceding Parthians and Seleucids, the country began to be called after Erech; a major city in southern Babylonia (Middle Persian: Erāq), and this name became established in the Islamic era as Irāq (العراق al-ʻIrāq). The name Babil (Babylon) as a reference to the country remained in use throughout the Islamic era by Arabic and Persian geographers; who used the name interchangeably with Iraq. In the early modern era, the region was known as Irak Arabi or Irak Babeli ("Arabic Iraq" or "Babylonian Iraq"). Anbāṭ, In the early Islamic period, the Arabian Arabs referred to the people of Iraq as al-Anbāṭ (sg. Nabaṭī) (Nabataean). They also referred to the people of Syria by the same name.Analogous to how the Egyptians were referred to as Copts (قبط qubṭ) by the Arabs.

• published: 03 Mar 2014
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