Cappadocia

Cappadocia

The earliest record of the name Cappadocia is from the late 6th century BC, when it appears as one of the countries of the Persian

Empire in the trilingual inscriptions of two early Achaemenid kings, Darius I and Xerxes. In these lists of countries the old Persian name

is katpatuka. It was proposed that kat-patuka came from the Luwian language, meaning "low country". Later research suggests

that the adverb katta meaning 'below, below' is specifically Hittite, while its Luwian counterpart is xanta. Therefore, the recent

revision of this proposal operates with the Hittite katta peda-, literally "the place below", a starting point for the development

of the toponym Cappadocia. The earlier etymology from Iranian hu-aspa-dahu 'land of good horses' can hardly be

reconciled with the phonetic shape of the kat-patuk. Several other etymologies have also been offered in the past.

Herodotus wrote that the name Cappadocian was applied to them by the Persians, while they were called "White Syrians" by the Greeks,

who were probably descendants of the Hittites. One of the Cappadocian tribes he mentions is the Moscoi, associated with Flavius.

Josephus with Meshech biblical person, son of Japheth: "And Mosochene was founded by Mosoch, now they are Cappadocians"