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Etymology •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Kittim (Chittim)
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Kittim 
The Kittim (a.k.a. The Chittim) are mentioned among the sons of Javan, son of Japeth, son of Noah (Genesis 10:4). Balaam mentions their ships (Numbers 24:24) and Jeremiah mentions their praiseworthy religious fidelity, despite their gods not being divine (Jeremiah 2:10).
The name Kittim is a plural form of  , Kittiy, although this singular doesn't occur in Scriptures. The alternative plural form  , Kittiyyiym, occurs in Isaiah 23:12 and Jeremiah 2:10. Both Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names and BDB Theological Dictionary note that the gentilicium Kittim applies to the people of Cyprus most specifically, but often generally refers to the coast-lands and islands of the Mediterranean Sea. The name of the Kittim's ancestor, Javan, is the Biblical name for Greece.
The name Kittim comes possibly from the verb  (katat) meaning to beat or hammer, but with the footnote that the result is usually a heap of fragments. Most famously, the golden calf was "beaten" so violently by Moses that he converted it to drinkable powder (Deuteronomy 9:21). This same verb is used in the famous cry to beat swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4), and also when the opposite is proposed, namely to beat plowshares into swords (Joel 3:10). Potter's vessels get pummeled to dust (Isaiah 30:14), testicles may end up crushed (Leviticus 22:24), and a gate or two is ruined (Isaiah 24:12). Nations crush each other (2 Chronicles 15:6), warriors do likewise (Jeremiah 46:5), even man in general by the sheer nature of life (Job 4:20).
Derivatives of this verb are:
The adjective  (katit), meaning beaten, but occurs only in the combination "beaten oil," denoting a costly olive oil (Exodus 29:40, Leviticus 24:2);
The feminine noun  (mekitta), meaning the crushed or pulverized (Isaiah 30:14).
Following this reasoning, the Kittim would be the Beaters or Pulverizers.
NOBS Study Bible Name List doesn't translate the name Kittim, but Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, slightly more daring, reads Subduers.
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