While it may be thought that the name is calqued from Mesopotamia (Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία), the opposite is more probable.[citation needed] The Aramaic name has been attested since the adoption of Old Aramaic as the lingua franca of the Neo Assyrian Empire in the 8th century BCE,[5] but the Greek name Mesopotamia was first coined in the 2nd century BCE by the historian Polybius during the Seleucid period.[6] The name Bayn al-Nahrayn is also found in Arabic (بين النهرين, "between the two rivers"). Other, less common Classical Syriac variants of the name include Bêṯ Nahrawwāṯā (ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܘܬܐ, "between the rivers") and Meṣʿaṯ Nahrawwāṯā (ܡܨܥܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܘܬܐ, "the middle of the rivers").