„Hatra erődítmény volt a két birodalom közti határ közelében, és Irán védelmében gyakran játszott kulcsszerepet a római hadakkal szemben.”

Rüdiger Schmitt:

„The name of the city is attested several times in the Hatrene inscriptions in the Aramaic form htr`, i.e., Hatrâ (cf. Beyer, p. 168), which most likely means 'enclosure, hedge, fence', denoting a fortified settlement (pace to others who have tried to derive it from Arabic). Hatrâ (thus also in Syriac) normally is rendered by the plural forms (cf. also Syr. Hatrê) Gk. A´tra, nt. in Dio Cassius (75.11.2, etc.) and several early Christian writings such as the Pseudo-Clementine epistles (see Vattioni, p. 3, n. 19) and A´trai, fem. in Herodian (History 3.9.3), as well as in a quotation from book 17 of the lost Parthica by Arrian (q.v.), mentioned by both the grammarian Herodian (Prosodia, p. 264, l. 18) and Stephanus of Byzantium (s.v. A´trai); moreover we find once each Gk. A´tra, fem. sing. in the Cologne Mani Codex (q.v.; P. Colon., inventory No. 4780, acc. A´tran), Lat. Hatra (acc. Hatram) in Ammianus (loc.cit.) and Hatris on the Tabula Peutingeriana (cf. Miller, fig. 241). The ethnonym is Atrênoí in Dio Cassius (68.31.1, 76.11.2) and Herodian (History 3.1.2, etc.).”

Arámi elnevezése tehát kerítést, sövénykerítést jelentett