BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H2157
zam.zom — Zamzummin
People descended from Repha(?), first mentioned at Gen.14.5 Another name of re.pha.im (רְפָאִים "Rephaim" H7497B) § Zamzummims = "plotters" the Ammonite name for the people who by others were called Rephaim, and were described as a numerous nation of giants; perhaps the same as 'Zuzim'
1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →A race of giants; “a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims” (Deut. 2:20, 21). They were overcome by the Ammonites, “who called them Zamzummims.” They belonged to the Rephaim, and inhabited the country afterwards occupied by the Ammonites. It has been conjectured that they might be Ham-zuzims, i.e., Zuzims dwelling in Ham, a place apparently to the south of Ashteroth (Gen. 14:5), the ancient Rabbath-ammon.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
