All right. I’ve got a problem. Perhaps someone can help me with it. I’m a Classics student and I’ve been wondering where the word Palestine came from. Yes, I know that the British mandate used this term but most British officials at the time had a classical education. They got the name from the Roman province of Palaestina which is derived from the Greek Παλαιστίνη. Now, some people claim that the Greeks got this word from the Philistines or the Hebrew word for the Philistines. I’m not convinced. Παλαιστίνη is mentioned by Herodotus and I’d like to know whether Herodotus:

1) Coined the word himself
2) Derived it from a purely Hellenic combination
3) Used a foreign derivative.

My Liddell and Scott doesn;t even cite Παλαιστίνη so I have no dependable source to which to turn. Any ideas?