Bible Dictionary
Zamzummim
The Zamzummim were a powerful people described as giants who lived east of the Jordan. The Ammonites dispossessed them, and they are identified with the Rephaim; they may also be related to the Zuzim.
Definition
The Zamzummim were a powerful and numerous race of giants who inhabited the region east of the Jordan later occupied by the Ammonites. The Ammonites displaced them and called them Zamzummim.
Biblical Usage
They are identified with the Rephaim in the account of the peoples dispossessed from the land east of the Jordan.
Historical Background
The Zamzummim are conjectured to be the same as the Zuzim, because of similarity between the names and their association with the Rephaim and the Emim.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(Deuteronomy 2:20) only, the Ammonite name for the people who by others were called Rephaim. They are described as having originally been a powerful and numerous nation of giants. From a slight similarity between the two names, and from the mention of the Emim in connection with each, it is conjectured that the Zamzummim are identical with the Zuzim.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>zam-zum'-im (zam-zummim): A race of giants who inhabited the region East of the Jordan afterward occupied by the Ammonites who displaced them. They are identified with the Rephaim (De 2:20). They may be the same as the Zuzim mentioned in connection with the Rephaim in Ge 14:5.</p><p>See REPHAIM.</p>