[Cecily]

I know. It's a loaded word in our days. Was the term used for Israel during the Second Temple period?

http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/meaning.html

[rmlew]

The term was not used from the destruction of Philistia in the 9th century BCE until the 2nd Century CE. It was used by the Romans only after the Bar Kochba uprising as an attempt historically cleanse the land, justify colonization, and further demoralize the thrice defeated Jews.