The Horites Heb. the Ḥorîm; Sam. LXX, Ḥorî. Possibly cave-dwellers, cp. Heb. ḥôr, Ar. ḥawr, caveor hole. Cave-dwelling is ascribed by Jerome (on Obadiah 1:6) to the Edomites of his day; and is fully verified for the Nabatean period, at least, by the remains about Petra; but it is precarious to reason back from these facts to the meaning of the name of the primitive race, which preceded -Esau in Mt Se-îr, especially as other etymologies of Ḥorîare possible. Sayce (Higher Criticism and the Monuments, 204) derives it from a root = whiteas if in contrast to the red-skinned -Edom. R. A. S. Macalister has discovered at Gezer the remains of a pre-Semitic, cave-dwelling race, using stone-implements, and identifies these with the Ḥorîm.

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