The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin ' and the Ancient Greek . Beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed.An overview is given by: Carles Múrcia (2006). : El nom grec del riu Nil pot ser d'origen amazic? Aula Orientalis 24: 269–292 Homer called the river , Aiguptos, but in subsequent periods, Greek authors referred to its lower course as Neilos; this term became generalized for the entire river system. Thus, the name may derive from Ancient Egyptian expression nꜣ rꜣw-ḥꜣw(t) (lit. 'the mouths of the front parts'), which referred specifically to the branches of the Nile transversing the Delta, and would have been pronounced ni-lo-he in the area around Memphis in the 8th century BCE. Hesiod at his Theogony refers to Nilus (Νεῖλος) as one of the Potamoi (river gods), son of Oceanus and Tethys."Τηθὺς δ᾽ Ὠκεανῷ Ποταμοὺς τέκε δινήεντας, Νεῖλόν τ᾽ Ἀλφειόν τε καὶ Ἠριδανὸν βαθυδίνην" (Hesiod, "Theogony", 337–338).
The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin ' and the Ancient Greek . Beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed.An overview is given by: Carles Múrcia (2006). : El nom grec del riu Nil pot ser d'origen amazic? Aula Orientalis 24: 269–292 Homer called the river , Aiguptos, but in subsequent periods, Greek authors referred to its lower course as Neilos; this term became generalized for the entire river system. Thus, the name may derive from Ancient Egyptian expression nꜣ rꜣw-ḥꜣw(t) (lit. 'the mouths of the front parts'), which referred specifically to the branches of the Nile transversing the Delta, and would have been pronounced ni-lo-he in the area around Memphis in the 8th century BCE. Hesiod at his Theogony refers to Nilus (Νεῖλος) as one of the Potamoi (river gods), son of Oceanus and Tethys."Τηθὺς δ᾽ Ὠκεανῷ Ποταμοὺς τέκε δινήεντας, Νεῖλόν τ᾽ Ἀλφειόν τε καὶ Ἠριδανὸν βαθυδίνην" (Hesiod, "Theogony" 337–338).