[ronyfadel]

I’m surprised the Phoenicians are not mentioned in the article, as they’re the first to use it, and Tyre was in Phoenicia.

[mdp2021]

Well, "Phoenician" itself is said to mean "purple" ("blood reddish"), although some of us prefer the idea that it means "carpenters" (coming from Egyptian "pheneku") - it makes more sense in terms of an expression "the Canaanite carpenters [of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos]" (all Canaanites, some of them in city states of that "special" region and culture).

Or: "Phoenicia" is a culturally sound area (the producers of lumber, dye etc., colonizers etc., in the Levantine coast) - not a Statal entity. The term is thought to have meant "those of the purple" or "those of the lumbers" within the Canaanites.

[debatem1]

Huh, very interesting. Who is 'us' above, and do you have any recommended reading on the Phoenician maybe-not-state?