Κιναιδοκολπίται

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The Kinaidokolpitai were a people inhabiting the Hejaz in western Arabia in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, according to Greek and Latin authors. They are known from a small number of independent sources. Their capital was Zambram, but none of the named settlements in their territory can be identified with certainty. Their name is possibly related to that of Kinda, Kinana, Kalb, Kilab or some combination of two of these tribes. For a time they were raiders and pirates preying on the incense trade until defeated by the Kingdom of Aksum, which imposed tribute on them.

The name is sometimes anglicized Kinaidokolpites. The earliest attested Latinization is Cinaedocolpitae. The name is usually spelled Kinaidokolpitai (Κιναιδοκολπίται) with an initial kappa in Greek, but in one instance it is spelled Chinedakolpitai (Χινεδακολπιται) with an initial chi. This is relevant to any consideration of a Semitic rather than Greek origin, since it suggests that the Semitic etymon could begin with either kaph or qoph.

If read literally in Greek, the name is composed of κίναιδος (homosexual, pervert) and κολπίτης (those living on a gulf). Glen Bowersock interprets this as an obscenity (if Greek), but Hélène Cuvigny and Christian Robin consider it to have a more positive connotation associated with erotic dancers (to which κίναιδος could also refer).

The first part of the name may relate to the later Arab tribe of Kinda, deliberately rendered in Greek in a pejorative form. Carlo Conti Rossini interpreted it as "Kinda living on the shore of the gulf". Hermann von Wissmann saw it as combining the names of the Kināna and Kalb tribes. Mikhail Bukharin, taking the first element as Kinda, thinks the second part could be either the Kalb or more likely the Kilāb. Laurence Kirwan identifies them with the Kināna.