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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 denoted by seven Hebrew words, nearly all of which refer to some characteristic of the region to which they are respectively applied.
1. ðֶâֶá , negeb (root ðâá in Syr. and Chald. to be dry), probably derived its name from the hot drying winds which annually blow 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. Aegypte, 1 297; comp. Luk_12:55. “When ye see the south wind blow, ye say there will be heat” and see Kitto, Physical Hist. of Palestine, month of March, p. 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 rather “dry land;” àֶøֶåֹ äִðֶּâֶá (Vulg. terram arentem); “give me also springs of water” (Jdg_1:15; comp. Jdg_1:9). 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” (Isa_21:1 äἰ ἐñήìïõ , turbines ab Africo). “The burden of the beasts in the south” is rendered ôῶí ôåôñáðüäùí ôῶí ἐí ôῇ ἐñήìῳ (Isa_30:6). At other times the word is rendered by íüôïò and ëßø , which latter is the Hellenized form of Libs, ventus ex Libya,; the southwest wind, and, by metonymy, the quarter whence it blows. In several instances the Hebrew word is simply put into Greek letters, thus, ôὸí ÍáãÝâ (Jos_10:40); ôὴí ãῆí ÍáãÝâ ;. Alex. ôὴí ÍáãÝâ , al. ÍåãÝâ (11:16); ÍáãÝâ v.r. ÁãÝâ (Oba_1:19-20); and once, probably by a corruption, it is ἀñãÜâ (1Sa_20:41), v.r. íåãήâ , íåãÝâ , ἐñãÜâ . The Vulg. renders the word by “meridies,” “australis plaga,” “terra meridiana,” “auster ab Aphrico,” “terra australis.”
More than once the Sept. differs widely from the present Hebrew text; thus in Eze_21:4 [9] it renders îַðֶּâֶá öָôåֹ by ἀðὸ ἀðçëéώôïõ ἕùò âïῤῥᾶ ; Vulg. “ab austro usque ad aquilonem;” so also in Exo_26:18 ôְּàִú ðֶâְáָּä is rendered ðñὸò âïῤῥᾶí ; Vulg. “ad austrum.” It is also used in the geographical sense in Num_34:3; Jos_15:2; 1Ch_9:24; 2Ch_4:4; Eze_40:2; Eze_46:9, 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 Judsea, consisting of the deserts of Shur, Zin, and Paran, the mountainous country of Edom or Idumrea, and part of Arabia Petrsea. (comp. Mal_1:3; Shaw, Travels, p. 438). Thus Abraham, at his first entrance into Canaan, is said to have “gone on towards the south” (Gen_12:9), Sept. ἐí ôῇ ἐñήìῳ , Aquila íüôïíäå , Symmachus åἰò íüôïí , and upon his return from Egypt into Canaan he is said to have gone “into the south” (Gen_13:1); Sept. åἰò ôὴí ἔñçìïí ; Vulg. “ad australem plagam,” though he was in fact then travelling northward. Comp. Gen_12:3, “He went from the south to Bethel;” Sept. åἰò ôὴí ἔñçìïí ; Vulg. “a meridie in Bethel.” In this region the Amalekites are said to have dwelt, “in the land of the south,” when Moses sent the spies to view the land of Canaan (Num_13:29), viz. the locality between Idumaea and Egypt, and to the east of the Dead Sea and Mount Seir. SEE AMALEKITE.
The inhabitants of this region were included in the conquests of Joshua (Jos_10:40). Whenever the Sept. gives the Hebrew word in the Greek letters, ÍáãÝâ , it always relates to this particular district. To the same region belongs the passage “Turn our captivity as the streams in the south” (Psa_126:4); Sept. ώò ÷åéìÜῤῥïõò ἐí ôῷ Íüôῳ , “as winter torrents in the south” (Vulg. “sicut torrens in Austro”), which suddenly fill the wadys or valleys during the season of rain (comp. Eze_6:3; Eze_34:13; Eze_35:8; Eze_36:4; Eze_36:6). These are dry in summer (Job_6:15-18). The Jews had, by their captivity, left their country empty and desolate, but by their return would “flow again into it.” Through part of this sterile region the Israelites must repass in their vain application to Egypt (Isa_30:6; comp. Deu_8:15). It is called the Wilderness of Judaea (Mat_3:1; Jos_15:61; comp. Psa_85:6, Heb. or margin; see also Jer_17:26; Jer_32:44; Jer_33:14; Ezra 20:46, 47; 21:4; comp. Oba_1:19-20; Zec_9:7).
Through part of this region lay the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, “which is desert” (Act_8:26). Thus as Drusius observes, the word often means not the whole southern hemisphere of the earth, but a desert tract of land to the south of Judaea. Sometimes it is used in a relative sense; thus the cities of Judah are called “the cities of the south” (Jer_13:19), relatively to Chaldaea, expressed by “the north” (Jer_1:14; comp. Jer_4:6; Jer_6:1). Jerusalem itself is called “the forest of the south field” or country, like the Latin ager (Eze_20:46; comp. Gen_14:7). SEE FOREST. Egypt is also called “the south” thus, “the king of the south” (Dan_11:5) is Ptolemy Soter and his successors; comp. Dan_11:6; Dan_11:9; Dan_11:11; Dan_11:15; Dan_11:25; Dan_11:29; Dan_11:40; but in the last-named verse Mede understands the Saracens from Arabia Felix (Works, p. 674, 816). SEE SOUTH COUNTRY.
2. ãָּøåֹ í , darom, which, according to Gesenius, is a word of uncertain derivation. It is in the Sept. rendered by ëßø , Deu_33:23; by íüôïò , Ecc_1:6; Ecc_11:3; Eze_40:24; Eze_40:27-28; Eze_40:44-45; Eze_41:11; and by èÜëáóóá , Eze_43:18; Vulg. “meridies,” “auster,” “australis,” “ventus australis.” This word as a proper name is usually understood to be applied to the southernmost part of Judaea in Job_37:17; Ecc_1:6; Eze_21:2; Eze_40:24. Hence the name of “Daroma” is given by Eusebius and Jerome to the region which they describe as extending about twenty miles from Elettheropolis on the way towards Arabia Petraea, and from east to west as far as from the Dead Sea to Gerara and Beersheba. A little to the south of Gaza there is now a spot called Bab ed-Daron, a name probably derived from the fortress Daron, celebrated in the time of the Crusades. That fortress was built on the ruins of a Greek convent of the same name which, being traced so far back, may well be identified with Darom as the ancient name of this territory. In Deu_33:23 the Hebrew word is applied to the sunny southern slope of Naphtali towards the Lake Huleh. SEE DAROM.
3. úֵּéîָ , Teyman, and its adverb úֵּéîָðָä , strictly what lies to the right; Sept. íüôïò , ëßø ; and sometimes the word is simply put into Greek letters; thus, ÈáéìÜí (Hab_3:3). Indeed, all the three preceding words are so rendered (Eze_20:46 [Eze_21:2]), Õἱὲ ἀíèñώðïõ , óôήñéóïí ôὸ ðñüóùðüí óïõ ἐðὶ èáéìÜí , êáὶ ἐðßâëåøïí ἐðὶ äáñüì , êáὶ ðñïöήôåõóïí ἐðὶ äñõìὸí ἡãïýìåíïí íáãÝâ , where perhaps the vocabulary of the translator did not afford him sufficient variety. The Vulg. here gives “viam austri,” “ad aphricum,” “ ad saltum agri meridiani,” and elsewhere renders the Hebrew word by “meridiana plaga,” “ad meridiem.” It occurs in Exo_26:35; Num_2:10; Num_3:29; Num_10:6; Job_9:9; Job_39:26; Psa_78:26; Son_4:16; Isa_43:6; Hab_3:3; Zec_9:14; Zec_14:4. In Zec_6:6 it denotes Egypt. It is poetically used for the south wind, like Shakspeare's “sweet south;” Psalm 77:26, íüôïí , africum, and Son_4:16, íüôå ; for the explanation of the latter SEE NORTH. Observe that úֵּéîָðָä and ðֶðֶá are interchanged in Exo_26:18; Exo_36:23; Eze_47:1. SEE TEMAN.
4. éָîַéï , yamin, also meaning the right side and south. Thus, Psa_89:12, Thou hast made the north and the south;” Sept. èÜëáóóá ; Vulg. mare. The word is evidently here used in its widest sense, comprehending not only all the countries lying south, but also the Indian Ocean, etc., the whole hemisphere. Aquila has Âïῤῥᾶí êáὶ äåîéÜí ; Theodotion, Âïῤῥᾶí êáὶ Íüôïí . In some passages where our translation renders the word right, the meaning would have been clearer had it rendered it south (1Sa_23:19; 1Sa_23:24; 2Sa_24:5; Job_23:9).
5. çֵãֵø , cheder, “Out of the south cometh the whirlwind” (Job_37:9), literally “chamber” or “storehouse,” ἐê ôáìéåßùí , ab interioribus. The full phrase occurs in Job_9:9, ] çִãְøֵé úֵּîָ , ôáìåῖá íüôïõ , interiora austri, the remotest south; perhaps in both these passages the word means the chambers or storehouses of the south wind.
6. îַãְáָּø , midbar, “Promotion cometh not from the south” (Psa_75:6), literally “wilderness,” ἀðὸ ἐñήìïí , desertis montibus. SEE DESERT.
7. îִéַ í , mayim, water, “And gathered them out of the sands, and from the south” (Psa_107:3), èÜëáóóá , mare; where Gesenius contends that it ought to be translated “west,” though it stands opposed to öָôåֹ , as it is indeed so translated under exactly the same circumstances in Isa_49:12. He refers to Deu_33:23, and Amo_8:12. It is also thus rendered in our version of the first of these references, and on the latter we can only refer to archbishop Newcome's Version of the Minor Prophets (Pontefract, 1809), p. 51, 52.
In the New Test. we have íüôïò in the geographical sense, âáóßëéóóá íüôïõ , regina:austri, Mat_12:42, SEE SHEBA and Luk_13:29; Rev_21:13. The word ìåóçìâñßá is also translated “south” in Act_8:26, êáôὰ ìåóçìâñßáí , contra meridianum. It is used in the same sense by Josephus (Ant. 4, 5, 2). In Symmachus (1Sa_20:41) for ðâֶá . Hesychius defines Ìåóçìâñßá ôὰ ôïῦ Íüôïõ ìÝñç êáὶ ôὸ ôῆò ἡìÝñáò ìÝóïí . The southwest ëßø occurs in Paul's dangerous voyage (Act_27:12), “a haven of Crete,” âëÝðïíôá êáôὰ ëßâá , respicienten ad africum, by metonymy the wind for the quarter whence it blows. The south wind is mentioned Act_27:13, íüôïò , auster, and 28:13. SEE WIND.
Egypt and Arabia lay south in respect of Canaan, and were therefore frequently mentioned by that designation. But from the Egyptians they may have learned the existence of nations living still farther to the southward, for representations of victories over the negroes, and of negro captives, are not uncommon on the tombs in the valley of the Nile. One which is here copied represents the triumph of one of the Pharaohs over a negro chief, probably designed to be the type of his nation. It is evident that the figure exhibits the usual characteristics of the negro features as strongly as they are found at the present day. SEE ETHIOPIA.