HORITE hôr’ īt; HORIM hō’ rem (חֹרִימ׃֮; LXX χορραῖοι). The LXX transcription consistently distinguishes the velar fricative of “Hittite” and “Horite” from the laryngeal spirant of “Hivite.” The former it writes as ch (χ, G5896), the latter with no separate consonant but a coloring of the adjacent vowel (e.g., Euaios for חִוִּ֖י). This distinction is an apt reflection of the evidence from both alphabetic (Ugaritic) and syllabic cuneiform texts (Akkadian and Hittites). Phonetically, “Horite” is the OT Heb. equivalent of extra-Biblical “Hurrian.” Many OT references to “Horites” do not seem to fit Hurrians. The personal names of the “Horites” in Genesis 36:20-30 do not conform to Hurrian patterns, but seem rather to be Semitic. It is claimed that no archeological evidence exists for Hurrian settlements in Edom or Trans-Jordan in general, whereas the OT reports “Horites” living there (Gen 14:6; Deut 2:12, 22). These E Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites, were apparently not Hurrians. On the contrary, it is maintained that the name “Horite(s)” originally stood in the Heb. text of Genesis 34:2 and Joshua 9:7, and the LXX still retained it, whereas in Isaiah 17:9, both MT and LXX have replaced it with secondary forms. These Horites are called W Horites, because the passages cited indicate for them a residence in the region to the W of the Jordan. They are to be kept distinct from the E Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites. The W Horites, it is claimed, are non-Semites related to the peoples called Hurrians in extra-Biblical texts of the 2nd millennium b.c. The etymology of the name of the E Horites may be the Sem. noun for “cave,” identifying the pre-Edomites of Seir as “cave-dwellers,” whereas the etymology of the name of the W Horites is obscure, being involved with the obscure origins and relationships of the poorly understood Hurrian language.

Bibliography E. Meyer, Die Israeliten und deren Nachbarstämme (1906); E. A. Speiser, AASOR, XIII (1933), 26-31; I. J. Gelb, Hurrians and Subarians (1944); Speiser, JAOS, LXVIII (1948), 1-13; H. G. Guterbock, Journal of World History, II (1954), 383-394; Speiser in IDB (E-J) s.v. Horite.