🔼The name Appaim: Summary
- Meaning
- [Two] Nostrils
- Etymology
- From אף ('ap), nostril, from the verb אנף ('anap), to breathe angrily.
🔼The name Appaim in the Bible
The name Appaim occurs twice in the Bible but in one statement. In 1 Chronicles 2:30-31, he is mentioned as one of the sons of Nadab, son of Shammai, son of Jerahmeel of Judah, and the father of Ishi. Nothing more in known about this man.
🔼Etymology of the name Appaim
The name Appaim is identical to the dual form of the noun אף ('ap), nostril or anger, from the verb אנף ('anap), to breathe in agitation when a perceived situation is not in line with one's ideal:
אנף
The verb אנף ('anap) means to be aware of a situation that is not in line with what one desires, and taking appropriate measures to do something about that. This verb describes the most fundamental quality of what it is like to have a mind (which coincides with being alive), and that is having the ability the compare one's ideal with the situation at hand. This is why even the smallest creatures move about in ways that cannot be explained by thermodynamics.
This verb's primary derivative is the noun אף ('ap), which describes the mental state associated with the verb — usually translated as "anger" but that's too strong a word, or perhaps not strong enough: the prophets went so far as to call it "the Lord's anointed" (Lamentations 4:20). A second translation of our noun is "nostril", which is where God's breath of life enters man, and hence where man's motivation is seated. See our main dictionary article for much more.
🔼Appaim meaning
For a meaning of the name Appaim, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Nostrils. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate our name but does list it under the verb אנף ('anap).
Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names suggests Two Breathing Places or the alternative A Double Portion in reference to the traditional translation of our word in 1 Samuel 1:5. See our main dictionary article for a discussion of that scene.