TheHutaym (alsoHutaim,Huteim) are a tribe of northwesternArabia. Traditionally, they are considered apariah group by theArabs and their name has been used as a catch-all term covering other pariah groups as well, such as theJibāliyya of theSinai.[1]
Hutaym (plural Hitmān) is sometimes incorrectly spelledḤutaym oral-Hutaym. The standard pronunciation inPeninsular Arabic isihtēm.[1] It comes from the adjectiveahtam and means "a man whose two front teeth are brokenoff at the root", that is, one who cannot trace his ancestry.[2] A member of the tribe is called a Hutaymī.
There is little reliable information on the origins of the Hutaym, which is consistent with the name's being a derogatory term applied by outsiders to socially low-ranking groups.[2] TheArab tribes regard them as neitherQaḥṭānite norʿAdnānite and thus not true Arabs by descent, and refuse to intermarry with them. One story, however, attributes their pariah status to an act of incest by the eponymous ancestor Hutaym, who was presumably an Arab. Another account makes them descendants of theBanū Hilāl.[1]James Raymond Wellsted, who visited them in the early 1830s, speculated that they were theIchthyophagi mentioned by classical authors.[3]
The Hutaym regard themselves as kin of another pariah group, theSharārāt. Both groups breeddromedaries and are thus more respected than theṢulayb, a pariah group that breedsdonkeys. They are regarded as superior hunters to theBedouins (noble Arab nomads), but inferior to the Ṣulayb. They also raise sheep and goats. The Hutaym of the coast are fishers.[1]
The Hutaym live mainly aroundKhaybar and theḤarrat Khaybar lava field has also been called the Ḥarrat Hutaym. They also live in theNafūd and the oasisal-Mustajidda and have migrated into theTihāma to the south. Groups labelled Hutaymī are also found inEgypt, and the islands of theRed Sea, although it is not clear whether these groups are actually related to peninsular Hutaym. The Hutaymī camel traders ofBeja.[1]
The term Hutaym first appears inArabic literature around 1200, then again inOttoman tax records of the early 16th century. They were one of the five tribes of thesanjak of Gaza who paid tribute to the sultan. A record of 1553 states they habitually raided thesanjak ofAjlun and had to be put down. By the 19th century, as recorded by several European travellers, the term being used to describe a low caste and not a specific tribe.[2] The English poetCharles Montagu Doughty travelled through Hutaymī territory in 1877–1878 and wrote about his experience inTravels in Arabia Deserta. He considered them more robust than the Bedouins but less dignified. TheBritish Admiralty'sHandbook of Arabia, written for theArab Revolt duringWorld War I in 1916, denigrated them as soldiers but admitted that they openly resisted theRashīdī Emirate (Britain's adversary) and even raided the outskirts of the Rashīdī capital,Ḥāʾil.[1]