Σῖναι

Ancient Greek

The land of the Sinae ("ϹῗΝΑΙ") at the eastern end of the landlocked Indian Ocean in a c. 1420 edition of Ptolemy's Geography.

Alternative forms

Θῖναι (Thînai), Θῖνα (Thîna)

Etymology

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

(5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /sîː.nai̯/
(1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.nɛ/
(4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.nɛ/
(10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.ne/
(15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.ne/

Proper noun

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:
  Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)
their homeland in southern China: Guangdong and northern Vietnam
their chief city

Inflection

Lua error: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Synonyms

(early medieval): Τζίνιστα (Tzínista); Τζίνιτζα (Tzínitza) (rare)

Descendants

Latin: Sinae, Sina, Sino-
- English: Sino-, Sinese
- Italian: sino-
- Sicilian: sinu-

See also

(modern China): Κίνα (Kína)

Further reading

“Thinae”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

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