حتى
See also: حتی, حبي, and جبي
Arabic
Etymology
- Traditionally, Arabic grammarians link it to the root ح ت ت (ḥ-t-t) in the senses of "to scrape or rub off", "to remove or destroy", "to end something", "to drive back or repel"; hence the meaning of an end-limit, the ending barrier or the point that holds back. Such a derivation would be highly irregular.
- Some classical dialects attest the word as عَتَّى (ʿattā), which is closer to the usual Semitic form found in Ugaritic 𐎓𐎄 (ʿd), Hebrew עַד (ʿaḏ), Aramaic עַד (ʿaḏ), and Akkadian 𒀀𒁲 (adi). If this is related, it could be connected with the root ع ت ي (ʿ-t-y), meaning "to be excessive", "to push the limits or be at the threshold", "to be extremely old or at the extreme end of life".
- Al-Jallad proposes an etymology from حَدّ (ḥadd, “limit”) + a conjunction *tay, as seen in مَتَى (matā, “when”, literally “what + *tay”) and North Levantine Arabic تَـ (ta-).
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Preposition
حَتَّى • (ḥattā)
- until, as far as, to the point of, even up to
- أَكَلْتُ ٱلسَّمَكَةَ حَتَّى رَأْسِهَا
- ʾakaltu s-samakata ḥattā raʾsihā
- I ate the fish, until its head
Conjunction
حَتَّى • (ḥattā)
- until
- Synonym: إِلَى أَنْ (ʾilā ʾan)
- in order to, so that
- Synonyms: كَيْ (kay), لِ (li), لِأَنْ (liʾan), لِكَيْ (likay), مِنْ أَجْلِ أَنْ (min ʾajli ʾan), لِأَجْلِ أَنْ (liʾajli ʾan)
- even
- خَرَجَ النَّاسُ حَتَّى ٱلْأَطْفَالُ.
- ḵaraja n-nāsu ḥattā l-ʾaṭfālu.
- The people went forth, even the children
- كُلُّ تَعْمِيمٍ بَاطِلٌ، حَتَّى هَذَا التَّعْمِيمُ.
- kullu taʿmīmin bāṭilun, ḥattā hāḏā t-taʿmīmu.
- All generalizations are false, including this one.
Usage notes
- حَتَّى (ḥattā) is followed under most conveyed circumstances by the subjunctive mood; the details are complicated, see Wild 1980 for more.
- Unlike إِلَى (ʾilā) and عَلَى (ʿalā), this preposition never has the pronominal suffixes added to it: *حَتَّيَّ (*ḥattayya), *حَتَّيْكَ (*ḥattayka), etc. do not exist.
Adverb
حَتَّى • (ḥattā)
- even, even this, including, even if
- finally, until finally
- (rare, disputed) unless, only if
Descendants
- Moroccan Arabic: حتى (ḥatta)
- → Ladino: ḥatta (Haketia)
- >? Maltese: sa (possibly)
- → Persian: حَتّی (hattâ)
- → Azerbaijani: hətta
- → Bashkir: хатта (xatta)
- → Kumyk: гьатта (hatta)
- → Ottoman Turkish: حتی
- Turkish: hatta
- → Uzbek: hatto
- →? Old Portuguese: até (possibly)
- Portuguese: até
- →? Old Spanish: fata, fasta (possibly)
- Spanish: hasta
- → Somali: xitaa
- → Swahili: hata
Trivia
ʾAbū Zakariyyā al-Farrāʾ (761-822 C.E.), an influential grammarian, famously said: “ʾamūtu wafī nafsī min ḥattā šayʾun” – “I shall die, while in my soul there is something off about ḥatta”, referring to his frustrations with its usage and grammatical complexities.
References
- Lane, Edward William (1863), “حت”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 508-510
- Lane, Edward William (1863), “عتى”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 1951; specifically mentions the dialects of Huḏayl and Thaqīf.
- Al-Jallad, Ahmad (2018) "The Etymology of Ḥattā", in To the Madbar and Back Again: Studies in the languages, archaeology, and cultures of Arabia dedicated to Michael C.A. Macdonald, eds. L. Nehmé and A. Al-Jallad. Leiden: Brill.
- Olmo Lete, Gregorio del; Sanmartín, Joaquín; Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2015), “ʿd”, in A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 112), 3rd edition, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 142–143
- Sadan, Arik (2012), “ḤATTĀ”, in The Subjunctive Mood in Arabic Grammatical Thought, Leiden: Brill, pages 197–249
- Wild, Stefan (1980), “Die Konjunktion ḥattā mit dem Indikativ Perfekt im klassischen Arabisch”, in Diem, Werner; Wild, Stefan, editors, Studien aus Arabistik und Semitistik. Anton Spitaler zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, von seinen Schülern überreicht, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, pages 204–223
South Levantine Arabic
Alternative forms
- لحتى (la-ḥatta)
- تـ (ta-)
Etymology
From Arabic حَتَّى (ḥattā).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ħat.ta/, [ˈħat.ta]
Audio (Jerusalem) (file)
Preposition
حتّى • (ḥatta)
- until, as far as, up to
- Synonyms: لـ (la-), لحدّ (la-ḥadd)
Conjunction
حتّى • (ḥatta)
- until
- Synonym: لحدّ (la-ḥadd)
- even
- so that (before a subjuctive verb)
- Synonyms: لـ (la-), عشان (ʕašan), منشان (minšān)