H4086 H4086
Madmen; a town in Moab
A Moabite town mentioned only in Jeremiah 48:2, in an oracle against Moab. The name is ironic: it sounds like the Hebrew word for 'dung' (H4087), and Jeremiah announces that Madmen will be silenced. Some scholars suggest textual corruption, but the MT preserves this ominous wordplay. The town's location is unknown, though it was presumably in northern Moab.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Jeremiah 48:2 plays with the similarity between 'Madmen' (the town) and 'madmenah' (dung-pit), creating a dark pun on Moab's coming destruction. The lack of clear translation in French and German (brackets indicate uncertainty) suggests even ancient witnesses found this toponym puzzling. It may be a deliberate wordplay rather than a surviving place name. 1×
AR["مَدْمَينُ"]·ben["মদমেন"]·DE["[מדמן]"]·EN["Madmen"]·FR["[מדמן]"]·heb["מדמן"]·HI["मदमेन"]·ID["Madmen"]·IT["[מדמן]"]·jav["Madmen"]·KO["마드메니이여"]·PT["Madmen"]·RU["Мадмен"]·ES["Madmén"]·SW["Madmeni"]·TR["Madmen"]·urd["مدمین"]
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
† מַדְמֵן n.pr.loc. in Moab Je 48:2 (on text, however, cf. Che Is 25:10).