Top 7 Interesting Tigris River Facts

 Its name was derived from a word in an ancient language

The first real people that settled in the area were the Sumerians who established themselves between the sixth and fifth millennium B.C. and thrived around 3,000 B.C. They grew crops by irrigating the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and were able to build the first urban settlements. That’s why it’s believed that the word “Tigris” was derived from the ancient Sumerian word Idigna or Idigina, which meant “running water.” This was then derived into Akkadian, the next civilization famous for presumably building the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as “Idiqlat,” meaning “swift water.”