Horite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. One of the early inhabitants of Mount Seir, a people described in the Hebrew Bible as living in the region before the descendants of Esau
2. A member of an ancient non-Semitic people who lived in the hill country of Seir according to the Book of Genesis
3. Describing an ancient people of the Seir highlands, mentioned in the Old Testament as predecessors of the Edomites in that area

Etymology: The Horites appear in the Hebrew Bible as the people of Seir, the hill country south of the Dead Sea, whom the descendants of Esau displaced (Deuteronomy 2:12 describes this). The Hebrew name "ḥōrî" is most often linked to "ḥōr", a word for a hole or cave, so it is usually read as "cave-dwellers". That link is plausible but not certain, since the Bible gives no explanation of the name. Many modern scholars identify the Horites with the Hurrians, a people known from Mesopotamian, Syrian and Anatolian records. The identification rests on the resemblance of the names and on overlapping geography, but it remains debated.