حتى

Meaning

Prep

until, as far as, to the point of, even up to

Conj

1. until
2. in order to, so that
3. even

Adv

1. even, even this, including, even if
2. finally, until finally
3. (rare) unless, only if

Concepts

until

even

in order to

till

Synonyms

منظم

بل

كي

لكي

Translations

bis

hatta

jusqu’à

fino a

heta

heya

ta

tot

até

hasta

afin de

con objeto de

a fin de

àdhuc

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 (ʕattā), 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 (ʕ 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-).