Sino or sina Origins

tianfeng
 June 12, 2007, 11:17 AM posted in General Discussion
I am sure this is in here some where but I don't have the time or the patience to go looking for it.  I have heard many different theories of where this comes from now Latin seems to be the leading candidate.  Some of my Chinese friends, however, seem to think that the word was Chinese in origin, used in China, and came from the Qin dynasty.  Other say that it along the silk road Chinese referred to themselves as being the people of "Qin" and there for this is just a variation on the pronunciation of China in different languages. I haven't found anything definite yet but I am going to keep looking.
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f1b1
 June 12, 2007, 12:31 PM

Dictionary definition of Sino– The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. More from Dictionary Sino– pref. Chinese: Sinology. [From Late Latin Sīnae, the Chinese, from Greek Sīnai, from Arabic Sīn, China, probably from Chinese Qín, Qin. See Qin.]

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f1b1
 June 12, 2007, 12:32 PM

I just copied and pasted that. I actually have no real idea. :)

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bazza
 June 13, 2007, 08:30 AM

From Concise Oxford Dictionary: Sino- /"sVIn@U/ · comb. form Chinese; Chinese and …: Sino-American. Ø relating to China. – ORIGIN from late L. Sinae (see Sinitic). Sinitic /sI"nItIk/ · adj. relating to or denoting the division of the Sino-Tibetan language family that includes the many forms of Chinese. – ORIGIN via late L. Sinae from Gk Sinai ‘the Chinese’, from Arab. AWn, denoting the Chinese empire.

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YantaiGuy
 June 14, 2007, 03:24 AM

I know for a fact that the ancient greeks, and romans (who borrowed heavily from greek language to form foreign names for things) used Sino as well. In fact it probably pre-dates 'oriental' as a word for asian, and is also (by a wicked collusion of transliteration and mispronunciation) the precursor of "China" as a term. The trail goes: Qina (Arabic) Sino (Greek) Sino, or Sinoan (Greek/Latin Hybrid) Sina, China (british misunderstand of spelling in the late 17th century I think.) Anyway, that's the theory. Sorry for sounding like a geek, I'm just in love with etymology. I study latin for fun! I already speak reasonable Italian, some German, and by proxy to Latin/Italian some Spanish, some French, English of course, and now it's onto Chinese...

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danjo
 June 16, 2007, 04:28 AM

I'm pretty certain I read in "The Complete History of China" by J.A.G. Roberts that it does come from "Qin" as in Qin Dynasty.

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goulnik
 June 16, 2007, 06:00 AM

Sino- comb. form meaning "Chinese," 1879, from L.L. Sinæ (pl.) "the Chinese," from Ptolemaic Gk. Sinai, from Arabic Sin "China," probably from Chinese Ch'in, name of the fourth dynasty of China (see China). source

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YantaiGuy
 June 17, 2007, 01:26 PM

There you go, I think Goulniky is right there. I was pretty close...