noun
- a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 b.c.
- an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of Indo-European, preserved in cuneiform inscriptions of the second millennium b.c.Compare Hieroglyphic Hittite.
adjective
- of, relating to, or belonging to the Hittites or their language.
noun
- a member of an ancient people of Anatolia, who built a great empire in N Syria and Asia Minor in the second millennium bc
- the extinct language of this people, deciphered from cuneiform inscriptions found at Boǧazköy and elsewhere. It is clearly related to the Indo-European family of languages, although the precise relationship is disputed
adjective
- of or relating to this people, their civilization, or their language
c.1600, “of or pertaining to an Indo-European people whose empire (c.1900-700 B.C.E.) covered much of modern Turkey and Syria,” from Hebrew Hitti “Hittite” (plural Hittim), from Hittite Hatti. The biblical use (cf. Gen. xv:20, etc.) refers to Canaanite or Syrian tribes that probably were genuine scions of the Hittites. They were called khita or kheta in Egyptian.