Θῖνα

Etymology
, but probably from, possibly via and usually held to derive from.

Proper noun

 * : a people of East Asia usually identified as the southern Chinese; their homeland, China.
 * 1) * c. 50, , paragraph 64:
 * "grc"

- 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.


 * 1) * 1848, Samuel Wells Williams, The Middle Kingdom, Vol. II, p. 408:
 * "grc"

- 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.

Declension
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).