Hittite

Meanings

1. A person of the Hittite Kingdom, a Bronze Age kingdom of Anatolia.

1. An ancient Indo-European language of the Anatolian branch, attested from the 16th century BC until the 13th century BC.

1. Of or relating to the Hittite people.
2. Of or relating to the Hittite language.
3. Of or relating to the Hittite Kingdom, located in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), that flourished from about 1800 to 1400 B.C.E.

Etymology

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.