Maryannu

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.