Hyksos

English

Alternative forms

• Hycsos

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Ὑκσώς (Huksṓs), Ὑξώς (Huxṓs), from Egyptian ḥqꜣ-ḫꜣst (“foreign ruler, Hyksos”), from ḥqꜣ (“ruler”) + ḫꜣst (“foreign land”).

Noun

Hyksos pl (plural only)

1. (historical) A mixed group of Asiatic people from Western Asia who took over the eastern Nile Delta, ending the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt and initiating the Second Intermediate Period.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 238:

     But in the New Kingdom, after the invasion of the Hyksos in their horse-drawn chariots, the horse became a more powerful image.

Anagrams

• Koshys