Hebrew word · H5339
נִצָּן
hanitzanim
flower
Blossoms, buds, the first flowers. This exact form occurs only here. It is related to nitsah ('blossom', Gen 40:10; Isa 18:5; Job 15:33) and to the verb natsats, 'to sparkle' or 'gleam' (Ezek 1:7), which suggests brightness.
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
blossom
Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Song of Songs 2:12
- Range of meaning
Blossoms, buds, the first flowers. This exact form occurs only here. It is related to nitsah ('blossom', Gen 40:10; Isa 18:5; Job 15:33) and to the verb natsats, 'to sparkle' or 'gleam' (Ezek 1:7), which suggests brightness.
- Against the English
'Flowers' is accurate. The Hebrew carries a hint of first, fresh bloom, the kind that sparkles on a hillside after the rains.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Related forms in biblical Hebrew are listed above. Later Hebrew uses nitsan for bud or blossom.
Similar words
Where it appears
Song of Songs · 1
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Song of Songs 2:12 הַנִּצָּנִים֙ the blossoms
The flowers have appeared in the countryside; the season of singing has come, and the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.
Here: The first blooms of spring. The word appears only here in the Bible, but it is related to nitsah, 'blossom' (Gen 40:10; Isa 18:5). Putting it first in the sentence makes it the first thing the hearer pictures: color coming back to the hills.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.