חַשְׁמַן

From the study of Psalm 68:31

Range of meaning

A one-time word (it occurs nowhere else in the Bible), so there is no fixed 'range' to report, only competing proposals: (1) envoys / ambassadors; (2) nobles, magnates, wealthy great men; (3) a costly Egyptian commodity brought as tribute, based on the Egyptian word ḥsmn (used for natron and for a precious stone or metal, sometimes taken as bronze or amethyst).

Against the English

BSB, NASB, NIV: 'envoys'. KJV, WEB: 'princes'. ESV: 'nobles'. YLT: 'fat ones' (following an old derivation from an Arabic root meaning to be fat/wealthy). NRSV: 'bronze'. Jewish JPS tradition: tribute-bearers. Every one of these is an educated guess.

How it drifted

KJV's 'princes' meant in 1611 rulers or great men generally (as in 'the princes of Judah'), not necessarily sons of a king; modern readers tend to hear royal sons.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint (2nd century BC or so) renders presbeis, 'ambassadors', and the Latin Vulgate follows with legati, 'envoys'; this is the oldest witness and governs most English versions. The word has been compared with the place name Heshmon (Josh 15:27) and with the family name Hashmonai (the Hasmoneans, the Maccabean dynasty), but these links tell us nothing secure about meaning. The Egyptian loanword proposal is discussed in HALOT and modern commentaries (e.g. Tate, WBC).