the Berasit Hebrew Dictionary

'perat' is a very ancient loan word from the Akkadian language. It is a direct transliteration of the Akkadian “Purattu” which refers to the might river now known as the “Euphrates”, in Mesopotamia.

This is important as it anchors the biblical stories in a historical and geographical context, first appearing in the second chapter of Genesis.

The fact that the Hebrew word is based on the Akkadian rather than the Sumerian or Babylonian spellings allows the dating of the book of Genesis as contemporary to the Akkadian period, no earlier than about 4500 years before present.

See also hedeqel