Biblica - Vol 90 (2009) Reymond, E.D., The Hebrew Word hmmd and the Root d-m-m I ('To Be Silent') (2009)

The definition of the Hebrew word hmmd (found in Biblical as well as in Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew) has been debated for many years. Recent dictionaries and studies of the word have proposed defining it as “sighing” or “whisper” and deriving it from the root d-m-m II associated with mourning and/or moaning. This study considers how the word is used in the Bible, in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as how similar words are used in other post-biblical Hebrew and Aramaic texts; it concludes that the word hmmd is more likely to mean “silence, quiet” or the absence of loud sound and motion in both the Hebrew of the Bible and that of the Dead Sea Scrolls and should be derived from the root d-m-m I (“to be silent”).