The use of Φ (ph) in the Septuagint’s transliteration of the name Philistines could be due to:
Phonological Changes in Greek:
- The Greek language underwent pronunciation changes during the Koine
Greek period, from about 300 BC to 400 AD. At the beginning of the
period, the pronunciation was close to Classical Greek, while at the
end it was almost identical to Modern Greek. [1]
One of these changes was the transition of the letter Φ from representing an aspirated /pʰ/ to a fricative /f/.
- The consonants φ, θ and χ, which were initially pronounced as
aspirates /pʰ/, /tʰ/ and /kʰ/ , developed into fricatives /f/, [θ]
and [x~ç].There is evidence for fricative θ in Laconian in the 5th
century BC, but this is unlikely to have influenced Koine Greek,
which is largely based on Ionic-Attic. According to Allen, the first
clear evidence for fricative φ and θ in Koine Greek dates from the
1st century AD in Latin Pompeian inscriptions, which transcribe φ and
θ with f: [1]
I'll also note that many of:
- These changes seem widely attested from the 2nd century BC in
Egyptian Greek, and in the early 2nd century AD in learned Attic
inscriptions; it is therefore likely that they were already common in
the 2nd century BC and generalized no later than the 2nd century AD.
[1]
So, the transition from “p” to “f” in the Septuagint’s transliteration of Palestine might not be an intentional choice, but rather a reflection of phonetic changes in the Greek language over time
This could explain why the Septuagint, which was translated during this period, uses Φ for the name Philistines.
As for the term “Palestine”. Something interesting is that it may have originated as a Greek pun on the translations of “Israel” and the "Land of the Philistines" [2]. The Greek Palaistinê and the Latin Palaestina appear frequently in ancient literature, but for the most part, they appear to refer not to the Land of the Philistines, but to the Land of Israel [2]
