🔼The name Muppim: Summary
- Meaning
- Flags: Populism, Fascism
- Angry Snorts
- Etymology
- From מפה (mappa), flag, from נוף (nup), to sway from side to side.
- From אף ('ap), nostril or anger.
🔼The name Muppim in the Bible
The name Muppim occurs only once in the Bible, namely in Genesis 46:21, where it occurs in a list of the sons of Benjamin. In Numbers 26:38-39 also occurs a list of Benjamin's sons, in which the Muppim are either represented by Shephupham or are subsumed by the Shephuphamites.
The names of the brothers Muppim and Huppim are both masculine plurals, which is curious but not necessarily indicative of a collective. Hebrew names are often commemorative rather than descriptive, and often don't describe the bearer of the name but rather imply that the bearer testifies of whatever the name describes. The name Eliezer, for instance, means God Of Help, but does imply that the man called Eliezer is the same as the God Of Help, but rather implies that the man testifies of the God Of Help. Likewise, any man called Savior (the names Joshua and Jesus were very common in Biblical times) may not necessarily be that Savior but testifies of him (Zephaniah 3:17).
🔼Etymology of the name Muppim
The name Muppim is difficult to explain but that's because it's so very easy to construct. The letter מ (me) often functions as a prefix of place or agency, which means that our name מפים (muppim) can be made out of any word whose central "p" is followed by another "p" or flanked by letters like "y" or "n" or "he" or even "a" that drop out in a wide range of grammatical constructions.
To give an example: in Hosea 7:4 occurs the term מאפה (me'ope), "from/by the baker", from אפה ('apa), to bake, making the Muppim the Muffins. In Ezra 9:11 occurs the term מפה אל־פה (mippe el-peh), from end to end, which uses the noun פה (peh), meaning mouth, so that the Muppim are Teeth. A Hebrew audience might recognize in our name the word אף ('ap), nostril, from the verb אנף ('anap), to breathe or snort angrily:
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.
The term מאף (m'ap) means "from [your] nostril[s]" (Numbers 11:20) or "from anger" (Psalm 37:8), making the Muppim the Boogers or the Angry Snorts. The name Nahor, meaning a Snorting (of a horse, mostly) would hence be similar to our name Muppim.
Here at Abarim Publications we would guess that the original name-giver had in mind the verb נוף (nup), to sway from side to side, or the inevitable noun מפה (mappa), meaning flag, which would link the Muppim to Memphis:
נוף
The verb נוף (nup) means to wave or sway to and fro, and describes the motion of large flat fans that hung from ceilings in warm climates. In nature, the process of cooling off produces rain and dew, which has long been recognized to associate to the formation of language as it "condensates" in very large human communities. This verb also describes the wielding of tools on stones, and appears in the description of the "altar of earth", which God commanded mankind to build (right after issuing the Ten Commandments), and which later was famously compared to a spiritual temple of living stones.
From this verb derive nouns תנופה (tenupa), meaning wave-offering, נפה (napa), sieve, נוף (nop) and נפה (napa) both meaning elevation, and נפת (nepet), honey. Also from this verb, the noun מפה (mappa) means flag or banner, from which derives our English word "map" and the name of the Muppet Show.
🔼Muppim meaning
For a meaning of the name Muppim, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads an inexplicable Obscurities. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names goes with an Arabic noun אף ('op), anxiety, from a verb אפף ('apap), to be anxious, and reads Anxieties. This seems a bit exotic, also seeing that this same word אף ('op) describes a more assertive "anger" in Hebrew. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate or interpret our name.
Here at Abarim Publications we would guess that Muppim means Flags and signifies the political school of thought that seeks to federate others, in theory to create a council in which all members are equal, but in practical effect one in which some members are more equal than others. In that sense, Muppim may relate to Memphis and signify the beautiful beginnings of fascistic thought. Also see our article on Three Taverns and Plato.