Σῖναι
Ancient Greek edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Uncertain, but probably from Sanskrit चीन (Cīna, “China”), possibly via Arabic صِين (Ṣīn, “China; the Chinese”) and usually held to derive from Old Chinese 秦 (*zin, “Qin”).
Pronunciation edit
- (5th BCE Attic) IPA(key): /sîː.nai̯/
- (1st CE Egyptian) IPA(key): /ˈsi.nɛ/
- (4th CE Koine) IPA(key): /ˈsi.nɛ/
- (10th CE Byzantine) IPA(key): /ˈsi.ne/
- (15th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA(key): /ˈsi.ne/
Proper noun edit
Σῖναι • (Sînai) m pl (genitive Σῑνῶν); first declension
- (culture) a people of East Asia usually identified as the southern Chinese: the Cantonese, Vietnamese, and other Yue peoples reached via the maritime Silk Road to Panyu (Guangzhou), not known at the time to be related to the Seres reached by the overland route to Chang'an (Xi'an)
- 1878, Thomas Rawson Birks translating Franz Delitzsch's citation of Neumann in his Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, p. 247:
- The name Θῖναι, Strabo, Σῖναι, Ptol., Τζίνιτζα, Kosmas, did not obtain currency first from the founder of the dynasty Tsin; but, long before this, Tsin was the name of a feudal kingdom in Shensi, one of the western provinces of the Sinese land, and Feitsa, the first feudal King of Tsin, began to reign as early as b.c. 897.
- The name Thînai, Strabo, Sînai, Ptol., Tzínitza, Kosmas, did not obtain currency first from the founder of the dynasty Tsin; but, long before this, Tsin was the name of a feudal kingdom in Shensi, one of the western provinces of the Sinese land, and Feitsa, the first feudal King of Tsin, began to reign as early as b.c. 897.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- 1878, Thomas Rawson Birks translating Franz Delitzsch's citation of Neumann in his Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, p. 247:
- their homeland in southern China: Guangdong and northern Vietnam
- their chief city
Inflection edit
Synonyms edit
Descendants edit
See also edit
- (modern China): Κίνα (Kína)
Further reading edit
- “Thinae”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly