SINIM (n4.;4i? ; Sept. 1/73 IlepaiDv), a people whose country, land of Sinim,' is mentioned only in Is. xlix. 12, where the context implies a remote region, situated in the eastern or southern extremity of the earth. Many Biblical geographers think this may possibly denote the Sinese or Chinese, whose country is Sina, China. This ancient people were known to the Arabians by the name of Sin, and to the Syrians by that of Tsini ; and a Hebrew writer may well have heard of them, especially if sojourning at l3abylon, the metropolis, as it were, of all Asia. This name ap pears to have been given to the Chinese by other Asiatics ; for the Chinese themselves, though not un acquainted with it, do not employ it, either adopt ing the names of the reigning dynasties, or osten tatiously assuming high -sounding titles—ex. gr. Tchungkue, central empire.' But when the name was thus given by other nations, and whence it was derived, is uncertain. The opinion of those writers is possibly correct who suppose that the name C4.)4D, Sinese, came from the fourth dynasty, called Tshin, which held the throne from 249 to 2o6 B.c. (Du Halde, Descript. de la Chine, i. sec. 1, p. 306 ; A. Remusat, Nouv. Melanges Asia. tiques, 334, seq. ; Klaproth, yournal Asiat. x. 53, seq.) A people called Tshinas are spoken of in the laws of Menu, and the name of this dynasty may have been known among foreign nations long before it acquired the sovereign power over all China. See this view more largely stated by Gesenius (Thesaurus, pp. 948-950). it is not
void of probability, but objections to it are obvious and considerable. Some, therefore, think that by the Sinim the inhabitants of Pelusium (Sin) are, by synecdoche, denoted for the Egyptians (Bochart, Phaleg, iv. 27). But as the text seems to point to a region more distant, others have upheld the claims of the people of Syene, taken to represent the Ethiopians (Michaelis, Spicil. ii. 32, seq. ; 4.01. p. 1741, seq.) [SvErrE.] If, however, the land of Sinim' was named either from Sin or Syene, it is remarkable that the LXX., who knew Egypt well, should have gone eastward in search of it, even so far east as Persia ; and if they con sidered it as lying in the remote eastern parts of the Persian empire, which extended to the borders of India, the great step which is thus taken in the direction of China would give some support to the identification of the Chinese with the Sinim.—J. K.
SINITE (4?4p ; Sept. 'Ac-evpalos), a people pro• bably near Mount Lebanon (Gen. x. ; r Chron.
r5). Strabo mentions a city in Lebanon called Sinna (Geog. xvi. 756). Jerome also speaks of a place called Sini, not far from Arca (Quasi. Heb. in Gen.) SION (Igtl; Sept. Znufm), a name (perhaps the ancient name) of Mount Hermon (Dent. iv. 48). In the Apocryphal books and in the N. T. Mount Zion (rry) is called Sion (M(.6v) ; comp. Maccab.
iv. 37, 6o ; v. 54, etc. ; Heb. xii. 22 ; Rev. xiv. r.