Rephaim
/ˈrɛf.aɪ.ɪm/noun
A biblical Hebrew term referring variously to ancient giant clans, legendary primordial peoples, or the dead inhabiting the underworld.
Did you know?In the Hebrew Bible, Rephaim can mean both legendary giant-like peoples and the powerless dead below, suggesting an ancient overlap between monstrous ancestry and restless spirits.
Etymological Timeline
Late Bronze Age, c. 1300–1200 BCE
Ugaritic
rpum
“A group of deceased or ancestral beings invoked in funerary and royal ritual texts; their exact identity remains debated.”
Iron Age, c. 1000–600 BCE
Biblical Hebrew
רְפָאִים (rəfāʾīm)
“A term applied to ancient peoples or giant clans, and elsewhere to the dead or shades in the underworld.”
3rd–2nd Century BCE
Greek Septuagint
Ῥαφαΐμ (Rhaphaim)
“A transliteration of the Hebrew name, preserving it as a biblical ethnonym and supernatural designation.”
4th–5th Century CE
Latin Vulgate
Raphaim
“A Latinized biblical form referring to the Rephaim, especially in passages describing ancient peoples and the dead.”
14th–16th Century
English
Rephaim
“An English biblical loanword used for the ancient inhabitants or giant figures mentioned in Scripture.”
Modern English
English
Rephaim
“A biblical and ancient Near Eastern term studied in connection with giants, ancestral dead, and underworld beings.”