حتى

Etymology

 * Traditionally, Arabic grammarians link it to the root in the senses of "to scrape or rub off", "to remove or destroy", "to end something", "to drive back or repel"; hence the meaning of an end-limit, the ending barrier or the point that holds back. Such a derivation would be highly irregular.
 * Some classical dialects attest the word as, which is closer to the usual Semitic form found in 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, and 🇨🇬. If this is related, it could be connected with the root , meaning "to be excessive", "to push the limits or be at the threshold", "to be extremely old or at the extreme end of life".
 * Al-Jallad proposes an etymology from + a conjunction *tay, as seen in  and 🇨🇬.

Usage notes

 * is followed under most conveyed circumstances by the subjunctive mood; the details are complicated, see Wild 1980 for more.
 * Unlike and, this preposition never has the pronominal suffixes added to it: *حَتَّيَّ, *حَتَّيْكَ, etc. do not exist.

Trivia
ʾAbū Zakariyyā al-Farrāʾ (761-822 C.E.), an influential grammarian, famously said: “ʾamūtu wafī nafsī min ḥattā šayʾun” – “I shall die, while in my soul there is something off about ḥatta”, referring to his frustrations with its usage and grammatical complexities.

Etymology
From.

Preposition

 * 1) until, as far as, up to

Conjunction

 * 1) until
 * 2) even
 * 3) so that
 * 1) so that