I personally think that the idea is farfetched. He assumes that early Greek
writers had an intimate knowledge of the land of Israel, its geography and
even knew of the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with the angel and the
etymology of the name "Israel". This is giving them too much credit.
Herodotus and the rest described the land from a Mediterranean perspective,
and used the names of the coastal regions, such as "Philistia"/"Palaistine",
in order to describe the interior.
Yigal Levin
-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Sevillano Hispalis
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2012 2:04 PM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] Israel>Palaistes (Wrestler)
What do you think about David Jacobson article about the origin
of the word "palestine" for the entire land of Israel?