Syria Palaestina
Latin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Syria + Palaestīna, literally “Palestinian Syria”.[1][2] In renaming the conquered province of Judaea, 2nd century AD Roman Emperor Hadrian formally adopted a name that had been in use as a Græco-Roman geographic term since at least the time of 5th century BC historian Herodotus, who repeatedly wrote in his dialectal Ionic Greek Συρίη ἡ Παλαιστίνη (Suríē hē Palaistínē, “Syria Palaestina”), meaning the part of Syria that is Palestine. Syria was understood to refer to a broader geographic region encompassing multiple smaller territories, with Syria Palaestina the southernmost part of Syria, bordered to the north by Syria Phoenīcē, followed by Coelē Syria, south of Asia Minor.
(Compare Gallia Cisalpīna (“Cisalpine Gaul”), Hispānia Baetica (“Baetic Hispania”) etc.)
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈsy.ri.a pa.lae̯sˈtiː.na/, [ˈs̠ʏriä päɫ̪äe̯s̠ˈt̪iːnä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈsi.ri.a pa.lesˈti.na/, [ˈsiːriä pälesˈt̪iːnä]
Proper noun[edit]
Syria Palaestīna f sg (genitive Syriae Palaestīnae); first declension
- A geographic region of the Levant encompassing the southern part of ancient Syria, between Phoenicia and Egypt along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the northwest of Arabia; roughly equating to Palestine.
- The name given by the emperor Hadrian to the Roman province of Judea following the crushing of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 AD; [2][3] later divided into the provinces of Palaestina Prima, Palaestina Secunda and Palaestina Salutaris. The province of Syria was divided in 197 AD into Coele Syria and Phoenice.
Declension[edit]
First-declension noun with a first-declension adjective, singular only.
| Case | Singular |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Syria Palaestīna |
| Genitive | Syriae Palaestīnae |
| Dative | Syriae Palaestīnae |
| Accusative | Syriam Palaestīnam |
| Ablative | Syriā Palaestīnā |
| Vocative | Syria Palaestīna |
References[edit]
- ^ Trevor Bryce, 2009, The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Roland de Vaux, 1978, The Early History of Israel, Page 2: "After the revolt of Bar Cochba in A.D. 135, the Roman province of Judaea was renamed Palestinian Syria."
- ^ Moše Šārôn / Moshe Sharon, 1988, Pillars of Smoke and Fire: The Holy Land in History and Thought
- “Palaestina Palaestina”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “Palaestina”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
- Palaestina in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.