Maryannu
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The Maryannu were a caste of chariot-mounted hereditary warrior nobility that existed in many of the societies of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. Maryannu is a Hurrianized Indo-Aryan word, formed by adding Hurrian suffix -nni to Indo-Aryan root márya, meaning "(young) man"[1] or a "young warrior".[2] Philologist Martin West suggested that the name Meriones, a character in Homeric epic, is "identical" to maryannu.[3] Thus, Mērionēs would be the Homeric Greek version of the term, reflected in pre-Mycenaean poetic verse as Mārionās.[4]
The term is attested in the Amarna letters written by Haapi. Majority of the Maryannu had Semitic and Hurrian names.[5][6]