Shinar

thumb|Cities of Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC Shin‘ar is the name for the southern region of Mesopotamia used by the Hebrew Bible.

==Etymology== Hebrew Šinʿār is equivalent to the Egyptian Sngr and Hittite Šanḫar(a), all referring to southern Mesopotamia. Some Assyriologists considered Šinʿār a western variant or cognate of Šumer (Sumer), with their original being the Sumerians' own name for their country, ki-en-gi(-r), but this is "beset with philological difficulties". Another hypothesis derives the name from a Kassite tribe known as the Šamharu, whose name would have been later used for Babylonia in general.