English
Hittite
Hittite comes from Biblical Hebrew חִתִּי, and goes back to Hittite ḫati.
- Hittitemodernḫatitransliteratedcuneiform ḫati, a transliteration
- Biblical Hebrewc. 1000–200 BCEחִתִּיḥittî
- Englishearliest quotation 1920Hittite
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Hittitemodernḫatitransliteratedcuneiform ḫati, a transliteration
- Biblical Hebrewc. 1000–200 BCEחִתִּיḥittî
- Englishearliest quotation 1920Hittite
Earliest quotation: 1920, Carl D. Buck, Hittite an Indo-European Language?: “The study of the main body of Hittite texts…”
first attested In reference to the Indo-European-speaking people of Asia Minor (as opposed to the Biblical Hittites), this term was first used in the early 20th century in confusion with the neighboring Hattites (Hattic) whose language was recorded in discovered texts as [script needed] (ḫattili) (as stated in the etymology)
The story
From Biblical Hebrew חִתִּי (ḥittî), from Hittite 𒄩𒋾 (ḫati), perhaps ultimately an exonym related to Hatti. In reference to the Indo-European-speaking people of Asia Minor (as opposed to the Biblical Hittites), this term was first used in the early 20th century in confusion with the neighboring Hattites (Hattic) whose language was recorded in discovered texts as [script needed] (ḫattili). It is now known that the Hittites called themselves 𒉈𒋗𒈨𒉌𒌍 (ne-šu-me-né-eš /nešumeneš/, “people from the city of Nesha”), hence the much less used alternative name Nesite or Neshite.
Every English word from Hittite ḫati
Today it means
noun A person of the Hittite Kingdom, a Bronze Age kingdom of Anatolia.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Hittite ḫati / Hittite