Θῖνα

Of uncertain etymology, but probably from Sanskrit चीन (Cina, “China”), possibly via Arabic اَلصِّين‎ (aṣ-ṣīn, “China; the Chinese”) and usually held to derive from Old Chinese 秦 (*Dzin, “Qin”).

Θῖνα • (Thîna) f (accusative, genitive Θῑνός)

1. (culture, geography) Alternative form of Θῖναι (Thînai): a people of East Asia usually identified as the southern Chinese; their homeland, China.
   • c. CE 50, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, paragraph 64:

     Μετὰ δὲ ταύτην τὴν χώραν ὑπ’ αὐτὸν ἤδη τὸν βορέαν, ἔξωθεν εἰς Θινός τινα τόπον ἀποληγούσης τῆς θαλάσσης, παράκειται ἐν αὐτῇ πόλις μεσόγειος μεγίστη, λεγομένη Θῖναι, ἀφ ἧς τό τε ἔριον καὶ τὸ νῆμα καὶ τὸ ὀθόνιον τὸ Σηρικὸν εἰς τὰ Βαρύγαζα διὰ Βάκτρων πεζῇ φέρεται καὶ εἰς τὴν Λιμυρικὴν πάλιν διὰ τοῦ Γάγγου ποταμοῦ. Εἰς δὲ τὴν Θῖνα ταύτην οὐκ ἔστιν εὐχερῶς ἀπελθεῖν· σπανίως γὰρ ἀπ’ αὐτῆς τινὲς οὐ πολλοὶ ἔρχονται.

     Metà dè taútēn tḕn khṓran hup’ autòn ḗdē tòn boréan, éxōthen eis Thinós tina tópon apolēgoúsēs tês thalássēs, parákeitai en autêi pólis mesógeios megístē, legoménē Thînai, aph hês tó te érion kaì tò nêma kaì tò othónion tò Sērikòn eis tà Barúgaza dià Báktrōn pezêi phéretai kaì eis tḕn Limurikḕn pálin dià toû Gángou potamoû. Eis dè tḕn Thîna taútēn ouk éstin eukherôs apeltheîn; spaníōs gàr ap’ autês tinès ou polloì érkhontai.

     After this region under the very north, the sea outside ending in a land called This, there is a very great inland city called Thinae, from which raw silk and silk yarn and silk cloth are brought on foot through Bactria to Barygaza, and are also exported to Damirica by way of the river Ganges. But the land of This is not easy of access; few men come from there, and seldom. (translated by Wilfred Harvey Schoff)

   • 1848, Samuel Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom, Vol. II, p. 408:

     The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea, however, refers to the same land [sc., China] under the name Θὶν, or Thin, at perhaps an earlier date.

Attested only in the accusative and genitive singular. It is unknown whether the nominative would have been Θίν (as assumed by Williams in the 1848 quote above) or Θίς (as assumed by Schoff's translation above).

• (capital): Θῖναι (Thînai)