>>507509846 (OP)>IranFrom Iranian Persian ایران (irân), from Classical Persian ایران (ērān), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭 (ʾērān, “of the Aryans”). See 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭 (ʾērān) for word formation, further etymology and cognates. The name of the political entity is a 3rd-century development that derives from the indigenous ethnolinguistic name of the Iranian peoples, i.e. the great variety of Iranian tribes that spoke an Iranian language.
>IraqBorrowed from Arabic الْعِرَاق (al-ʕirāq, “Iraq”). Medieval Arabic geographic understanding of this toponym included the areas in the south and center of modern Iraq. This may be understood as the definite form of عِرَاق (ʕirāq, “shore, coast, any region or area (of a whole country or a mere rivulet in a garden) adjacent to water as opposed to another one”), contradistinguished from الْجَزِيرَة (al-jazīra, “the Arabian Peninsula”), respectively, in Classical Syriac ܓܙܺܝܪܬܴ݁ܐ (gəzīrtā, “Mesopotamia”), but it is tempting to connect it with Middle Persian (ˀyrg /ērag/) or (ˀl'k' /erāg/, “lowlands”), like 𐭠𐭩𐭥𐭠𐭭 (ʾyrʾn /ērān/, “Iran”), with diminutive suffix from 𐭠𐭩𐭫 (ʾyl /ēr/, “Iranian”), referring to historic rule from Iraq’s plateau-situated neighbor, Persia. The former Pahlavi form is more closely reflected in a Jewish Babylonian Aramaic incantation bowl; together with the neighboring region, this marks it as אירג (ʔyrg /*ērag/), being the oldest extant witness of the country name. The Aramaic language continuum may have had a pharyngealized byform of the other vocalization, as also seen in عِرْنَاس (ʕirnās, “distaff”) and عَمْرُوسَة (ʕamrūsa, “small lamb”).