Etymology
The name Orontes is the Hellenized form of the Iranic name, Haeravanta, meaning "that of grandeur." There are a great number of rivers and mountains carrying a variety of this name all over where the ancient and modern Iranic peoples have settled, from the Pamirs to Anatolia and the Levant. Rivers like the Arvand and the Alvand (Iraq), mountains like Alvand (Iran), and the Iranic Armenian dynasty, the Orontids (a dynasty that traces its founding originator to Bactria/Balkh in the Iranic northern Afghanistan). In its Arabized form, Halwan/Hilwan, the name is carried by towns and villages from Egypt to Iran. These all carry this ancient Iranic compount name in its various form, standing for grandeur and greatness. Today, the Kurds and their Aryan kin, the Armenians, still inhabit the lower reaches of the Orontes.
Read more about this topic: Orontes River
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