Dohuk

Duhok (Kurdish: دهۆک, romanized: Dihok;[2][3] Arabic: دهوك, romanized: Dohūk;[4] Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ, romanized: Beth Nohadra,[5][6] Lishanid Noshan: דוהוך, romanized: Dohok[7]) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is the capital city of Duhok Governorate. The original name of the city was Nuhadra, an Assyrian town dating to the late Bronze Age, which later became a semi independent Neo-Assyrian province and later ecclesiastical province of Beth Nuhadra. In the Medieval era city of Duhok received its name from the Kurdish word ’du’ (two) and ’hok’ (lump) as a tax payment of two lumps from the basket of each passing caravan that often carry wheat and barley.[8] According to a tradition presented by Sasson Nahum, Dohuk was initially named Dohuk-e Dasinya, signifying "Dohuk of the Yezidis". However, after a massacre of the Yezidis, the town was abandoned, leading to the settlement of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the area.[9] The city of Duhok has an ancient Assyrian and Hurrian history attached to it from the time of the Middle Assyrian Empire and Urartu and was originally Assyrian inhabited and called Nuhadra.[8]