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==Name== {{Hiero|''Keftiu''|<hiero>kA:Z1-I9-U33-Z7-N25</hiero>Crete|era=egypt|align=left}} The earliest references to the island of Crete come from texts from the [[Syria]]n city of [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] dating from the [[18th century BC|18th century]] BC, where the island is referred to as ''Kaptara''.<ref>Stephanie Lynn Budin, ''The Ancient Greeks: An Introduction'' (New York: Oxford UP, 2004), 42.</ref> This is repeated later in [[Neo-Assyrian]] records and the [[Bible]] (''[[Caphtor]]''). It was known in ancient [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] as {{lang|egy-Latn|Keftiu}} or {{lang|egy-Latn|kftı͗w}}, strongly suggesting a similar [[Minoan language|Minoan]] name for the island.<ref>O. Dickinson, ''The Aegean Bronze Age'' (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 1994), 241–244.</ref> The current name ''Crete'' is first attested in the 15th century BC in [[Mycenaean Greek]] texts, written in [[Linear B]], through the words ''ke-re-te'' {{Script|Linb|𐀐𐀩𐀳}}, *''Krētes''; later Greek: {{lang|grc|Κρῆτες}} {{IPA|grc|krɛː.tes|}}, plural of {{lang|grc|Κρής}} {{IPA|grc|krɛːs|}})<ref>Found on the [[Pylos|PY]] An 128 tablet.</ref> and ''ke-re-si-jo'' {{Script|Linb|𐀐𐀩𐀯𐀍}}, *''Krēsijos''; later Greek: {{lang|grc|Κρήσιος}} {{IPA|grc|krέːsios|}},<ref>Found on the [[PY Ta 641]] and PY Ta 709 tablets.</ref> 'Cretian').<ref>{{cite web |title=The Linear B word ''ke-re-si-ji'' |website=Palaeolexicon |url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16779 }}</ref><ref>{{LSJ|*krh/s|Κρής}}, {{LSJ|krhsi/ai|Κρήσιος s.v. κρησίαι|ref}}.</ref> In [[Ancient Greek]], the name Crete ({{lang|grc|Κρήτη}}) first appears in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''.<ref>Book 14, line 199; Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek–English Lexicon''</ref> Its etymology is unknown. One proposal derives it from a hypothetical [[Luwian language|Luwian]] word {{lang|xlu-Latn|*kursatta}} (compare {{lang|xlu-Latn|kursawar}} 'island', {{lang|xlu-Latn|kursattar}} 'cutting, sliver').<ref>Edwin L. Brown, "Linear A on Trojan Spindlewhorls, Luvian-Based ϜΑΝΑΞ at Cnossus", in ''Qui miscuit utile dulci: Festschrift Essays for Paul Lachlan MacKendrick'', eds. Gareth Schmeling & Jon D. Mikalson (Wauconda, Ill.: Bolchazy-Carducci, 1998), 62.</ref> Another proposal suggests that it derives from the [[ancient Greek]] word ''"κραταιή" (krataie̅)'', meaning strong or powerful, the reasoning being that Crete was the strongest [[thalassocracy]] during ancient times.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|date=2018-12-08|title=Τι σημαίνει το όνομα "Κρήτη" τελικά και γιατί ονομάστηκε έτσι το νησί μας;|url=https://www.daynight.gr/kriti/krhth-etymologia-onomatos/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-14|website=Daynight.gr|language=el|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714201715/https://www.daynight.gr/kriti/krhth-etymologia-onomatos/ |archive-date=14 July 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Λελάκης|first=Γεώργιος|title=Αιγαίο-ετυμολογίες νήσων|year=2008|language=Greek}}</ref> In [[Classical Latin|Latin]], the name of the island became {{Lang|la|Creta}}. The original Arabic name of Crete was {{Lang|ar-Latn|Iqrīṭiš}} ({{langx|ar|اقريطش}} < {{lang|grc|(τῆς) Κρήτης)}}, but after the [[Emirate of Crete]]'s establishment of its new capital at {{lang|ar|ربض الخندق}} {{Lang|ar-Latn|Rabḍ al-Ḫandaq}} (modern [[Heraklion]]; {{langx|el|Ηράκλειο}}, {{lang|el-Latn|Irákleio}}), both the city and the island became known as {{lang|grc-x-medieval|Χάνδαξ}} ({{Lang|el-Latn|Chandax}}) or {{lang|grc-x-medieval|Χάνδακας}} ({{Lang|el-Latn|Chandakas}}), which gave Latin, Italian, and Venetian {{lang|vec|Candia}}, from which were derived French {{lang|fr|Candie}} and English ''Candy'' or ''Candia''. Under [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman rule]], in [[Ottoman Turkish]], Crete was called {{lang|ota-Latn|Girit}} ({{lang|ota|كريد}}). In the Hebrew Bible, Crete is referred to as ({{lang|he|כְּרֵתִים}}) "kretim".
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