Kassites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A people who controlled Babylonia for several centuries after about 1600 BCE, known for their distinct language and rule over the region
2. The members of an ancient ethnic group that governed Babylon and surrounding lands in the second millennium BCE
3. An old Near Eastern nation that held power in Mesopotamia for hundreds of years following the fall of the Babylonian dynasty

Etymology: The Kassites were a people who came to rule Babylonia after its older dynasty collapsed, and held power there for several centuries. The English name is the plural of "Kassite," and the stem most likely comes from Akkadian "Kaššu," the name used for them in the cuneiform records of Mesopotamia. The link is not certain. English adds the "-ite" ending, familiar from groups such as Israelites, to that stem. The Kassite language survives mainly in personal names and glosses, so the name the people used for themselves is unknown, and the English name rests entirely on how their neighbours wrote it.