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darom

דָּרוֹם

HebrewH1864south, south side, ...

Appears 17 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Deu 33:23Job 37:17Ecc 1:6Ecc 11:3Ezk 20:46(21:2)Ezk 40:24 (2×)Ezk 40:27 (2×)Ezk 40:28 (2×)Ezk 40:44Ezk 40:45
Word studydah-ROMEnoun

What darom means

south: the compass direction, and by extension the side, region, or wind that lies toward it

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintySettled

Hebrew has several words for south, and this is the plain, everyday one for the compass direction. It points to the southern quarter of the sky or land, the way a person faces when the rising sun is on the left hand.

It turns up most often in the prophet Ezekiel's guided tour of a future temple, where it marks the south gate, the south-facing chambers, and the south side of the whole complex. Elsewhere it simply names one of the four directions, frequently paired with its opposite, the north, as a way of taking in every direction at once.

In one passage (Job 37:17) the word names the quarter the warm wind blows from, so it is rendered "the south wind" there. Two close relatives cover neighboring ground: תֵּימָן, a more poetic word for south, and נֶגֶב, which is both the direction and the proper name of the dry Negev region in southern Judah.

Nuances

1athe south as a direction, side, or region: the southern quarter, a south-facing side of a building, or the land lying to the south
Deu 33:23Ecc 1:6Ecc 11:3Ezk 20:46(21:2)Ezk 40:24 (2×)Ezk 40:27 (2×)Ezk 40:28 (2×)Ezk 40:44Ezk 40:45Ezk 41:11Ezk 42:12Ezk 42:13
1bthe south wind: the warm wind that comes up from the south
Job 37:17

What scholars say about darom

The standard lexica (BDB; HALOT) gloss דָּרוֹם simply as "south," a masculine noun used of the compass direction, the southern side or region, and, by metonymy in Job 37:17, the warm wind from that quarter. Its derivation is uncertain; proposals link it to a root for brightness or height (the bright southern sky), but no etymology is secure and none is needed, since the sense is undisputed. The word belongs to a small set of Hebrew terms for south alongside תֵּימָן and נֶגֶב, and it is disproportionately frequent in Ezekiel's temple vision (Ezekiel 40 to 42), where it functions as an architectural bearing for gates, chambers, and sides.

Sources

  • BDB, s.v. דָּרוֹםlexicon
  • HALOT, s.v. דָּרוֹםlexicon

All attested forms of דָּרוֹם

m s absolute

דָּרוֹם

Deu 33:23, Job 37:17, Ecc 1:6, Ecc 11:3, Ezk 20:46, Ezk 40:24, Ezk 40:24, Ezk 40:27

m s construct

דָּרוֹם

Ezk 40:28