Hebrew word · H5578

סַנְסַנָּה

vesansanah

Sansannah

A proper noun naming a town. It may be connected with sansinnim, 'fruit-stalks' or 'branches' of the date palm (Song of Songs 7:8), which would make the name mean something like 'palm-frond place'. This is a likely guess, not a proven meaning.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Sansannah = "palm branch"

a town in southern Judah

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 Joshua 15:31

Range of meaning

A proper noun naming a town. It may be connected with sansinnim, 'fruit-stalks' or 'branches' of the date palm (Song of Songs 7:8), which would make the name mean something like 'palm-frond place'. This is a likely guess, not a proven meaning.

Against the English

The English versions transliterate it.

Used elsewhere in the period

The name occurs only here. In the matching Simeon list the corresponding name is Hazar-susah, 'enclosure of the mare' (Joshua 19:5), or Hazar-susim, 'enclosure of horses' (1 Chronicles 4:31). Some scholars think these are the same place under different names; others think they are different towns. Khirbet esh-Shamsaniyat has been suggested as the site.

Where it appears

Joshua · 1

  1. Joshua 15:31 וְסַנְסַנָּֽה׃ and Sansannah

    Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,

    Here: A Negev town mentioned only here. The name may be related to sansinnim, the 'fruit-stalks' or fronds of the date palm (Song of Songs 7:8). If so, it would be a fitting name for an oasis settlement.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.