Editing Canaan (section)

==Etymology==
{{see also|Names of the Levant}}
===Canaan===
The English term "Canaan" (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|eɪ|n|ən}} since {{circa|1500}}, due to the [[Great Vowel Shift]]) comes from the Hebrew {{lang|he|כנען}} ({{transliteration|he|Kənaʿan}}), via the [[Koine Greek]] {{lang|grc|Χανααν}} {{transliteration|grc|Khanaan}} and the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|Canaan}}. It appears as ''Kinâḫna'' ({{langx|akk|𒆳𒆠𒈾𒄴𒈾}}, ''<sup>KUR</sup>ki-na-aḫ-na'') in the [[Amarna letters]] (14th century BC) and several other ancient Egyptian texts.<ref>{{cite book |author= Shmuel Ahituv |title= Canaanite Toponyms in Ancient Egyptian Documents |publisher= The Magnes Press, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |year= 1984 |pages= 83–84}}</ref> In Greek, it first occurs in the writings of [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]] (c. 550–476 BC) as "{{transliteration|grc|Khna}}" ({{lang|grc|Χνᾶ}}).<ref>{{cite book |isbn=978-0198149569 |first1=David |last1=Asheri |first2=Alan |last2=Lloyd |first3=Aldo |last3=Corcella |title=A Commentary on Herodotus, Books 1–4 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2007 |page=75}}</ref> It is attested in Phoenician on coins from [[Berytus]] dated to the 2nd century BC.<ref>{{cite book| author = Katell Berthelot | chapter = Where May Canaanites Be Found? Canaanites, Phoenicians and Others in Jewish Texts from the Hellenistic and Roman Period | title = The Gift of the Land and the Fate of the Canaanites | editor = K. Berthelot, J. David and M. Hirshman | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2014 | url = https://www.academia.edu/6791773}}</ref>

The etymology is uncertain. An early explanation derives the term from the [[Semitic root]] {{transliteration|sem|knʿ}}, "to be low, humble, subjugated".<ref>[[Wilhelm Gesenius]], ''Hebrew Lexicon'', 1833</ref> Some scholars have suggested that this implies an original meaning of "lowlands", in contrast with [[Aram (biblical region)|Aram]], which would then mean "highlands",<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYQaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA336 |title=Bible Places: Or, The Topography of the Holy Land |first=Henry Baker |last=Tristram |author-link=Henry Baker Tristram |year=1884 |page=336 |access-date=9 October 2018 |archive-date=29 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240429061902/https://books.google.com/books?id=vYQaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA336#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> whereas others have suggested it meant "the subjugated" as the name of Egypt's province in the Levant, and evolved into the proper name in a similar fashion to [[Gallia Narbonensis|Provincia Nostra]] (the first Roman colony north of the Alps, which became [[Provence]]).{{sfn|Drews|1998|pp=47–49|ps= :"From the Egyptian texts it appears that the whole of Egypt's province in the Levant was called 'Canaan', and it would perhaps not be incorrect to understand the term as the name of that province...It may be that the term began as a Northwest Semitic common noun, 'the subdued, the subjugated', and that it then evolved into the proper name of the Asiaticland that had fallen under Egypt's dominion (just as the first Roman province in Gaul eventually became Provence)"}}

An alternative suggestion, put forward by [[Ephraim Avigdor Speiser]] in 1936, derives the term from [[Hurrian]] {{lang|xhu|Kinaḫḫu}}, purportedly referring to the colour purple, so that "Canaan" and "[[Phoenicia#Etymology|Phoenicia]]" would be synonyms ("Land of Purple"). Tablets found in the Hurrian city of [[Nuzi]] in the early 20th century appear to use the term {{lang|xhu|"Kinaḫnu"}} as a synonym for red or [[tyrian purple|purple dye]], laboriously produced by the [[Kassites|Kassite]] rulers of [[Babylon]] from [[murex]] molluscs as early as 1600&nbsp;BC, and on the Mediterranean coast by the Phoenicians from a byproduct of glassmaking. Purple cloth became a renowned Canaanite export commodity which is mentioned in [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]]. The dyes may have been named after their place of origin. The name 'Phoenicia' is connected with the Greek word for "purple", apparently referring to the same product, but it is difficult to state with certainty whether the Greek word came from the name, or vice versa. The purple cloth of [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]] in Phoenicia was well known far and wide and was associated by the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] with nobility and royalty. However, according to [[Robert Drews]], Speiser's proposal has generally been abandoned.{{sfn|Drews|1998|p=48|ps=: "Until E.A. Speiser proposed that the name 'Canaan' was derived from the (unattested) word kinahhu, which Speiser supposed must have been an Akkadian term for reddish-blue or purple, Semiticists regularly explained 'Canaan' (Hebrew këna'an; elsewhere in Northwest Semitic kn'n) as related to the Aramaic verb kn': 'to bend down, be low'. That etymology is perhaps correct after all. Speiser's alternative explanation has been generally abandoned, as has the proposal that 'Canaan' meant 'the land of merchants'."}}<ref>{{harvnb|Lemche|1991|pp=24–32}}</ref>

===Djahy===
[[Retjenu]] (Anglicised 'Retenu') was the usual ancient Egyptian name for Canaan and Syria, covering the region from [[Gaza City|Gaza]] in the south, to [[Tartous]] in the north. Its borders shifted with time, but it generally consisted of three regions.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}} The region between [[Ascalon]] and [[Mount Lebanon|the Lebanon]], stretching inland to the [[Sea of Galilee]], was named [[Djahy]],<ref name=When>[[Georg Steindorff|Steindorff, George]] and Seele, Keith C. (2014 revised edition; first edition 1942). ''When Egypt Ruled the East'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=65DeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 47] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240217122111/https://books.google.com/books?id=65DeBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |date=2024-02-17 }}. University of Chicago Press. {{isbn |022622855X}}. Accessed 17 Feb 2024.</ref> which was approximately synonymous with Canaan.{{citation needed|date= February 2024}}