SOUTH. The country, or quarter of the heavens, which the Shemite, standing with his face to the east, supposes to be on his right hand. It is de noted by seven Hebrew words (1. Z.?? ; 2. nii7; 3. ; 4. ; 5. 17.r.:1; 6' -91.n 7.
nearly all of which refer to some characteristic of the region to which they are respectively applied. 1. Zn (root Zn in Syr. and Chald., to be thy), pro bably derived its name from the hot drying winds which blow annually into Syria over Africa and Arabia. In March,' says Volney, appear in Syria the pernicious southerly winds, with the same circumstances as in Egypt—that is to say, their heat, which is carried to a degree so excessive, that it is difficult to form an idea of it without having felt it ; but one can compare it to that of a great oven when the bread is drawn out ( Voyage en Syrie et Egypte, tom. i. p. 297 ; comp. p. 55 ; Luke xii. 55, When ye see the south wind blow ye say, There will be heat ;' and see Kitto's Physical His. tory of Palestine, month of March, pp. 221, 222). The word is occasionally applied to a parched or dry tract of land. Caleb's daughter says to her father, Thou hast given me a south,' or rathet dry land ;' r-IN (Vulg. terranz areolan)'give me also springs of water' (Jddg. 15 ; comp. ver. 9). At other times the word refers to those arid regions, notwithstanding their occasional fertility, over which the south wind blows into Syria. So the Sept. and Vulg. understood the whirlwinds from the south' (Is. xxi. ; (Se gov, turbines ab Aphrica). 'The burden of the beasts in the south ' is rendered rum Tv-pa-n-65:ov TC731, einjbccp (Is. xxx. 6). At other times the word is rendered by voros and MIA which latter is the Hellenised form of Libs, Ventus ex Lybia, the south-west wind, and, by metonymy, the quarter whence it blows. In several instances the He brew word is simply put into Greek letters : thus, rip Nu-4, Josh. x. 40 ; 7311, 117)1, Ncrylp, Alex.
Na-yeg, al. Nayeg, xi. 16 ; Naey4p, Cyr. 'A-ygp, Obad. 19, zo ; and once, probably by a corruption, it is cinciP, Sam. xx. 41, al. Pe^(03,aL pryei3, aL
//yydp. The Vulgate renders the word by meri dies, australis plaga, terra meridiana, auster ab Aphrico, terra australis.' More than once the Septuagint differs widely from the present Hebrew text ; thus in Ezek. xx. 47, it renders rinn nnn by ecira C177)X1.05701, gC,JS ; Vulg. ab austro usque aquilonem ;' so also in Exod. xxvi. 35, ran 11ND is rendered vpOs iStoi3158.v ; Vulg. ad austrum.' It is also used in the geographical sense in Num. xxxiv. 3 ; Josh. xv. 2 ; t Chron. ix. 24 ; 2 Chron. iv. 4 ; Ezek. xl. 2 ; XlVi. 9, etc. But a further and important use of the word is as the name or designation of the desert regions lying at the south of Judzea, consisting of the deserts of Shur, Zin, and Paran, the mountainous country of Edom or Idumzea, and part of Arabia Petrma (comp. Mal. i. 3 ; Shaw's Travels, p. 438). Thus Abraham, at his first entrance into Canaan, is said to have gone on toward the south ' (Gen. xii. 9) ; Sept. er, Iphyy, Aquila poTapoe, Sym machus cis v6rop : and upon his return from Egypt into Canaan, he is said to have gone into the south' (xiii. ; Sept. Eis emov ; Vulg. ad australem plagam,' though he was in fact then tra velling northward. Comp. ver. 3, He went from the south to Bethel ;' Sept. cis rip einy.tou; Vulg. 'a meridie in Bethel.' In this reg,ion the Anialekites are said to have dwelt 'in the land of the south,' when Moses sent the spies to view the land of Canaan (Num. xiii. 29), viz. the locality between Idunuea and Egypt, and to the east of the Dead Sea and Mount Seir [AmALEKITEs]. The inha bitants of this region were included in the conquests of Joshua (x. 40). Whenever the Septuagint gives the Hebrew word in the Greek letters, Nay0,-it always relates to this particular district. To tbe same region belongs the passage, Turn our captivity as the streams in the south' (Ps. cxxvi. 4) ; Sept. clys xeck‘diiiaoas ep N6rcu, as winter torivnts in the south' (Vulg. sicut torrens in Austro ') ; which suddenly fill the wadys or val leys during the season of rain (comp. Ezek. vi.