Kfar Hatta ( ar, كفرحتى) is a village located in the

Sidon District The Sidon District ( ar, قضاء صيدا) is a district within the South Governorate of Lebanon. Cities and towns * Aadloun * Ansariye *Ghaziyeh *Maghdouché * Majdelyoun * Miye ou Miye * Qinarit * Salhieh *Sarepta *Sidon - capital * Tabbaya * ...

of the

South Governorate South Governorate ( ar, الجنوب; transliterated: al-Janub) is one of the governorates of Lebanon. South Lebanon has a population of 500,000 inhabitants and an area of 929.6 km2. The capital is Sidon. The lowest elevation is sea-level ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. It is located 8 kilometres east of

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

History

Settlement here has ranged from as far back as the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, as seen by the once present

Roman aqueduct The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

s (destroyed). There is also a small empty tomb cave to the east of the village cut out of the rock. The village also has the claimed tomb of a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

, Nabi Nasser, however this is unknown if it is a prophets tomb at all. In the area around Nabi Nasser there used to be ruins of a city or town that could date to the 2nd century AD, with many clay pots, oil lamps, and Roman coinage found around it. In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...

noted ''Kefr Hatta'' as a village by

Jezzin Jezzine ( ''Jizzīn'') is a town in Lebanon, located from Sidon and south of Beirut. It is the capital of Jezzine District. Surrounded by mountain peaks, pine forests (like the Bkassine Pine Forest), and at an average altitude of 950 m (3 ...

, "East of et-Tuffa".Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p
188
/ref> The main village was destroyed in an earthquake in 1956, so the villagers built south of the graveyard. There are three

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s in the village. The newest mosque was built in the 1960s, with two mosques to the north in the old area old the village, the newer of them dating before 1956 and still standing with some use, and the older being in ruins. It is bordered from the south with a large valley which contains many caves and the river of Nahar Sainik, to the south east the village of

Kfar Beit Kfar Beit (also known as كفر بيت, Kfar Beït, Kafr Bayt or Kfarbeet) is a Lebanese village in the south of Lebanon. It is close to the city of Saida. Kfar Beit has an average elevation of 374 meters or 1,227 feet. The closest airport is th ...

, further to the east is the village of

Kfar Melki Kfar Melki ( ar, كفر ملكي), also known as Kafrmelki or Kfarmilki, is a town in the Sidon District, South Governorate, Lebanon. It is situated 11 kilometres east of Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as S ...

, to the north west is the village of Mjaydel, and by Hassaniyeh to the north. The village also has an 'ain, Ain al Nabi (Spring of the Prophet, referring to the Nabi Nasser) to the south. The village is split into three. To the west is 'Isoof (عسوف) the newer part of the village. Main Kfar Hatta is around the mosque, and Al-Krom (الكروم), to the east. Isoof was designed by the government after the earthquake.

Etymology

The original name of the village used to be Kfar Hiti (Arabic: كفر حتِي) but slowly evolved into Kfar Hatta due to it being easier to say. While it is unknown what Kfar means, it is speculated that it may mean "land of", meaning that the name means "land of Hiti" which Hiti is a family name, as it still is. 'Isoof comes from the Arabic Qisoof (Arabic: قعسوف) meaning an exposed place to wind, or a place where the wind blows. Al-Krom means the trellis they used to grow

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

References

Bibliography

* File:Villagekfarhatta.jpg, The village as seen from the merged village of Isoof in the northwest File:Mosquekfrhatta.jpg, The Mosque of Kfar Hatta File:Graveyardkfarhatta.jpg, The Graveyard of Kfar Hatta, one of the oldest areas of the village File:Mapofkfarhatta.png, A labeled map of Kfar Hatta Populated places in Sidon District {{lebanon-geo-stub