حتى

* 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 (ʕattā), which is closer to the usual Semitic form found in Ugaritic 𐎓𐎄 (ʿd), Hebrew עַד (ʿaḏ), Aramaic עַד (ʿaḏ), and Akkadian 𒀀𒁲 (adi).