Link Centre Dictionary

Hittite

hit·tite

UK/ˈhɪ.taɪt/ US/ˈhɪˌtaɪt/ rare

adjective

1.

of or relating to the Hittite people or their language or culture

noun

1.

a member of an ancient people who inhabited Anatolia and northern Syria about 2000 to 1200 BC

2.

the language of the Hittites and the principal language of the Anatolian group of languages; deciphered from cuneiform inscriptions

Origin

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.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.