Rakka, name of a NSyr city on the Middle Euphrates
▪ The city name al-Raqqaẗ is from †raqqaẗ (pl. riqāq) ‘land regularly flooded by a river’,1
obviously on account of its marshy surroundings; cf. also †ruqāq ‘shallow water, low sea’. With this, the name is akin to ↗raqqa ‘(to be\come) thin, soft’ (sc. referring to the ‘thin’ layers of ‘soft’ soil that covers flooded land). ▪ …