section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The name Gaza first appears in military records of Thothmes III of Egypt in the 15th century BC, and was mentioned in the Amarna correspondence as Āl Ĥazzati and other variant spellings. In Neo-Assyrian sources, reflecting the late Philistine period, it was known as Hāzat. It is clear the name originates from none of these languages, however.
  
  Based on the city's modern Hebrew name, ʻAzzā, a common folk etymology insists the name stems from the Hebrew root ʻayin - zayin - zayin, from which words related to strength and fierceness are derived, but this is unlikely. The in the root corresponds to a Proto-Semitic * ʻ sound (compare Hebrew ʻaz with Arabic ʻazza, both meaning "to be strong, powerful, mighty"), while it is clear from city's name in Arabic (, Ḡazza), Greek (, Gáza), and Egyptian (gꜣḏꜣtw) that the name of Gaza was likely originally pronounced with an initial / ʁ / sound in Hebrew, and thus can't have been from the same root as ʻaz.