Bible Dictionaries

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Zamzummim

ZAMZUMMIM . A name given by the conquering Ammonites to the Rephaim , the original inhabitants of the land ( Deuteronomy 2:20 ). They are described as a people ‘great and many and tall like the Anakim’ (see art. Rephaim). The name Zamzummim has been connected with Arab. [Note: Arabic.] zamzamah ‘a distant and confused noise,’ and with zizim , the sound of the jinn heard in the desert at night. The word may thus perhaps be translated ‘Whisperers,’ ‘Murmurers,’ and may denote the spirits of the giants supposed to haunt the hills and ruins of Eastern Palestine (cf. art. Zuzim).

W. F. Boyd.