Zerbis

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Latin

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Etymology

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Likely related to the Great Zab and Little Zab rivers, a name already attested as Akkadian [script needed] (Zabu) and thus probably from a Semitic language, though the semantic identification of Pliny’s Zerbis with these is problematic and may reflect an error on his part.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Zerbis m sg (genitive Zerbis); third declension

  1. A river of Assyria and tributary of the Tigris
    • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 6.30.118:
      Gordyaeis vero iuncti Azoni, per quos Zerbis fluvius in Tigrim cadit
      but the Gordyaean Mountains are linked to the Azoni, through which the river Zerbis descends into the Tigris

Declension

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Third-declension noun (i-stem), singular only.

Case Singular
Nominative Zerbis
Genitive Zerbis
Dative Zerbī
Accusative Zerbem
Ablative Zerbe
Vocative Zerbis

References

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  • Assyria”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
  • Zerbis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Cameron, Hamish (2019) Making Mesopotamia: Geography and Empire in a Romano-Iranian Borderland, Koninklijke Brill, →ISBN, pages 220–1