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Discover the meanings of thousands of Biblical names in Abarim Publications' Biblical Name Vault: Siphmoth

Siphmoth meaning

שפמות

Source: https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Siphmoth.html

🔼The name Siphmoth: Summary

Meaning
Fence Keepers
Etymology
From the verb שפף (sapap), to mark a border or reach across it.

🔼The name Siphmoth in the Bible

The name Siphmoth occurs only once in the Bible, namely in 1 Samuel 30:28, where it is mentioned among the towns to which David sent his gifts of gratitude, after the Amalekites, who had raided Ziklag, had been defeated.

🔼Etymology of the name Siphmoth

It's not clear where the name Siphmoth comes from (it looks like the plural of Shapham or Shepham), and probably relates to the root שפף (spp):

Excerpted from: Abarim Publications' Biblical Dictionary
ספף

Root ספף (sapap) has to do with creating, marking or temporarily reaching through the border between two essentially distinct realms that nevertheless have a common origin; this border circles around the smaller of the two so that this smaller realm sits within the larger. It's the verb that describes any such formation from the palisade around a tribal territory to the fence around a single house, the skin of a person or even the cellular wall of a eukaryote.

Noun סף (sap) means threshold or sill (and is also the word for a kind of goblin or based bowl). Verb סוף (sup) means to come at an end. Noun סוף (sop) means end. Noun שפה (sapa) denotes the edge of things. Noun סופה (supa) describes a violent storm (perhaps a tornado, in form comparable to a goblin or based bowl).

Noun סוף (sup) refers to reed, which grows at, and thus marks the border between water and dry land. From reed comes papyrus, and books mark the border between the howling outer dark and the enlightened space within. The industrial production of papyrus, of course, was an absolute marvel and a milestone in information technology (easily comparable with the invention of floppies and disk drives in our age).

Verb ספה (sapa) means to sweep away (across the threshold, out the door) and so does verb שפה (shapa). The latter may also mean to skim, to shave or to border-mark by means of a protruding beacon or mark. From the latter comes the verb שפת (shapat), which describes some kind of setting or placing just outside the realm of civilization, and that usually by means of a ring of conspicuous, guiding and protecting fires. Proverbially, both the contagious and the extremely poor, and of course the shepherds, their flocks and wild animals abided on the dark side of these fires. The latter verb also yields noun שפי (shepi), which describes bones sticking through the skin of an emaciated man, or hills that likewise conspicuously mark some border, presumably in an otherwise flat landscape.

Verb שוף (shup) appears to mean to violate in the sense of illicitly entering one's personal space (or body). This verb became associated with the bite of a snake, and the noun שפיפן (shepipon) denotes some sort of snake, presumably one that attacks by darting from its burrow and then swiftly retreating.

🔼Siphmoth meaning

What Siphmoth means is uncertain, but if it is indeed a plural form of Shapham or Shepham it may mean Fence Keepers