nineveh
/ˈnɪnɪvə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A governorate in Northern Iraq.
Etymology
From Old English Niniuea (under influence from Biblical Hebrew נִינְוֵה (nīnəwē)), from Latin Nīnevē, from Ancient Greek Νινευή (Nineuḗ), ultimately from Akkadian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 𒀏 (/Ninua/) or Old Babylonian 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 (/Ninuwā/) of uncertain origin, but is clearly a variation of 𒀏 (/ninâ/, “fish”). The cuneiform seems to denote "House of Fish", although whether this referred to literal fish, an aspect of Ishtar, a separate Hurrian goddess, or something else entirely is unclear. The traditional folk etymology in classical antiquity derived it from an eponymous founder Ninus (Greek: Νίνος (Nínos)).
Origin
- Source language: Old English
Word Breakdown
- Root: Niniuea, נִינְוֵה, Nīnevē, Νινευή, 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀 𒀏, 𒌷𒉌𒉡𒀀