Talk:Poenit

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I think this is the best location for the Land of Punt & Puntite re-directions to point to. Does anyone else care which headding the article sould be under?Zestauferov 05:35, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Should Phoenicia or Punic be mentioned here? //

  • There is confusion here between two peoples:-
(1) The Phoencians / Poeni / Phoinikoi / Carthaginians. Their name comes from Greek "phoinix", which means "red", and may be a Greek translation of "Canaan". Both names refer to the Tyrian purple dye which they got from the Murex mollusc.
(2) The land which the Ancient Egyptians called Punt.

Anthony Appleyard 16:19, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Maybe not because I think Canaan comes from an Afro-Asiatic word meaning Merchant, I could try to confirm this. I do know that the last I heard, Lebanese school children still learn that their Poenician ancestors came from the Eritrean Sea, so maybe Flinders Petrie's confusion (as it has been put above) has some pre-historic basis.81.132.98.240 11:45, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Herodotus said the Phoenician ancestors came from the Erythraean Sea; but he may not that trustworthy, as discussed under Phoenicia#Origins. As discussed on the Canaan page, the use of the word 'Canaanite' to mean merchant probably derives from the country, rather than the other way round.
The usage of the word Canaanite to mean merchant is very late, from the Septuagint era, and even then it doesn't really mean merchant its really a case of the word Canaanite in the Bible being translated by the Greek word for merchant in some late passages. So it is definitely not the original meaning of the word. It also does not mean red or red dye, that would be a circular definition the Hurrian word Kanagi meaning red or red dye is derived from the name of the people. The only known tradition regarding the origin of the name is that it was the name of the son of Ham the son of Noah, I don't see any reason to reject the idea that it comes from a name of an ancestor of the people as there is no hard evidence of any other meaning. I find the mindset of deliberately ignoring traditional explanations in favour of explanations contrived by 19th century pseudo-intellectuals to be quite annoying. Kuratowski's Ghost 00:01, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Regarding the Greek word, 'phoinix' (purple-red or crimson) clearly has a relation to 'phoinos' (blood red), which presumably came first. (?). But the question of how both words evolved, and how they picked up other influences and meanings along the way, I'd say is not completely open-and-shut. Jheald 20:54, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Disputed

Phut (and the related form Put) has absolutely nothing to do with either Punt or Phoenicia. Moreover, Punt and Phoencia have nothing to do with each other either. From the history of this article it looks as if it started life as someone's misunderstanding of "Punt" and/or the heavy use of 19th century sources. I see no reason why this article should not be deleated as it has no factual information whatsoever and mistakenly pulls together 3 distinct topics. —Nefertum17 19:08, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

You may very well be correct, but it would help if you would provide a source or reference.--198.93.113.49 18:07, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
A connection between the words Phoenicia and Punt is a known hypothesis, it is agreed however that they refer to different localities, Punt being in the Somalia / Yemen area. The hypothesis is that the Phoenicians were descended from people who came from this area who in turn had originated in the Persian Gulf region. Kuratowski's Ghost 00:32, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I would be interested in seeing a source on this hypothesis (for or against) if not for the entry then for my own personal interest.
David Rohl mentions it in his book "Legend" although its not only his idea. Kuratowski's Ghost 20:43, 27 Apr 2005 (UTC)