one of the world's oldest surviving place names, from a Semitic root nahal "river." Unnamed in Old Testament, it is always merely "the river" (Hebrew yeor).
River originating in central Africa and flowing north to the Mediterranean Sea, with its delta in Egypt. The Nile proper is formed by the joining of the Blue Nile, which flows from Ethiopia, and the White Nile, which flows from Lake Victoria. They meet at Khartoum, Sudan.
Note: At over four thousand miles, it is the longest river in the world.
Note: The Nile River Valley in Egypt is the site of the first great civilization.
dark; blue, not found in Scripture, but frequently referred to in the Old Testament under the name of Sihor, i.e., "the black stream" (Isa. 23:3; Jer. 2:18) or simply "the river" (Gen. 41:1; Ex. 1:22, etc.) and the "flood of Egypt" (Amos 8:8). It consists of two rivers, the White Nile, which takes its rise in the Victoria Nyanza, and the Blue Nile, which rises in the Abyssinian Mountains. These unite at the town of Khartoum, whence it pursues its course for 1,800 miles, and falls into the Mediterranean through its two branches, into which it is divided a few miles north of Cairo, the Rosetta and the Damietta branch. (See EGYPT.)