הָמָן H2001
Haman — the Agagite official who plotted the destruction of the Jews in the Book of Esther
Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite is the chief antagonist of the Book of Esther, a high-ranking Persian court official whose pride and hatred for Mordecai escalated into a genocidal decree against all Jews in the empire. His 54 occurrences are confined entirely to Esther, tracing his arc from promotion (Esth 3:1) to the casting of lots (pur) for the date of destruction, through his humiliation at Esther's banquet, and finally to his execution on the very gallows he prepared for Mordecai (Esth 7:10). The etymology remains debated — possibly connected to the Elamite divine name Humban. The name is uniformly transliterated across languages: Spanish 'Aman,' French 'Haman,' German 'Haman.'
Senses
1. Haman (proper name, Persian official) — The proper name Haman (Hebrew haman), referring exclusively to Haman the Agagite, the antagonist of the Esther narrative who obtained a royal decree to annihilate the Jewish people (Esth 3:8-11) and was ultimately hanged on his own gallows (Esth 7:10). All 54 occurrences appear within the Book of Esther and refer to this single individual across all syntactic forms — nominative, prepositional, and conjunctive. 54×
AR["هَامَانَ", "هَامَانُ"]·ben["-হামন", "হামন", "হামান", "হামানকে", "হামানের"]·DE["Haman"]·EN["Haman"]·FR["Haman"]·heb["המן"]·HI["हामान", "हामान-ने"]·ID["Haman"]·IT["Haman"]·jav["Haman"]·KO["하만", "하만을", "하만의", "하만이"]·PT["Haman"]·RU["Аман", "Амана", "Аманом", "Гаман", "Гамана", "Гаманом"]·ES["Amán"]·SW["-", "Hamani", "ghadhabu", "juu-ya", "kutoka-siku", "maliwali"]·TR["Haman", "Haman'ı", "Haman'ın"]·urd["ہامان", "ہامان-نے", "ہامان-کے"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
הָמָן n.pr.m. Haman, favourite of Ahasuerus (etym. dub.; according to JenVOJ 1892, 58 ff. = Elamit. n.pr.div. Ḫumban, or Ḫumman)—Est 3:1 + 53 times in Esther.