Editing Nephilim (section)

==Etymology==
The [[Brown-Driver-Briggs|Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon]] (1908) gives the meaning of Nephilim as "[[giant]]s", and warns that proposed etymologies of the word are "all very precarious".<ref name="Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon' p.&nbsp;658">{{cite book |editor1-last=Brown |editor1-first=Francis |editor2-last=Driver |editor2-first=S.R. |editor3-last=Briggs |editor3-first=Charles A. |year=1907 |title=A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament |page=658 }}</ref> Many suggested interpretations are based on the assumption that the word is a derivative of Hebrew verbal root {{lang|he-Latn|n-p-l}} ({{lang|he|נ־פ־ל}}) "fall". {{harvtxt|Girdlestone|1871|p=91}} argued  the word comes from the [[Hiphil|hif'il]] [[causative]] stem, possibly indicating that the name 'Nephilim' is to be understood as 'those that cause others to fall down'.<ref>{{cite book |last=Girdlestone |first=Robert Baker |author-link=Robert Baker Girdlestone |date=1871 |title=Synonyms of the Old Testament: Their bearing on Christian faith and practice |publisher=Longmans, Green <!-- Source for the scanned book? Not appropriate for citation. --- |others=Princeton Theological Seminary Library --> |place=London, UK |page=91 |lang=en |url=http://archive.org/details/synonymsofoldtes00gird |via=[[Internet Archive]] }}</ref> Ronald Hendel states that it is a passive form: 'Ones who have fallen', grammatically analogous to {{lang|he-Latn|paqid}} 'one who is appointed' (i.e., a deputy or overseer), {{lang|he-Latn|asir}} 'one who is bound' (i.e., a prisoner).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hendel |first=Ronald |date=2004 |chapter=The Nephilim were on the Earth: Genesis 6:1–4 and its ancient Near Eastern context |editor-last1=Auffarth |editor-first1=Christoph |editor-link1=Christoph Auffarth |editor-last2=Stuckenbruck |editor-first2=Loren T. |editor-link2=Loren Stuckenbruck  |title=The Fall of the Angels |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-9004126688 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/fallangelsthemes00auff/page/n31 21–34] |url=https://archive.org/details/fallangelsthemes00auff |url-access=limited }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Marks |first=Herbert |date=Spring 1995 |title=Biblical naming and poetic etymology |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=114 |issue=1 |pages=21–42 |doi=10.2307/3266588 |jstor=3266588 }}</ref> It is also argued that the "fallen" refer to those who "fell in battle", similar to the [[Gibborim (biblical)|''gibborim'']].<ref name=":7">{{cite web |last1=Brand |first1=Miryam |last2=Galbraith |first2=Deane |last3=Keiser |first3=Thomas |last4=Nguyen |first4=Martin |last5=Paul |first5=Clarissa |last6=Pinkus |first6=Assaf |last7=Stinchcomb |first7=Jillian |year=2023 |title=Nephilim |series=Database EBR |url=https://www.degruyter.com/database/EBR/entry/MainLemma_5727/html?lang=en |website=de Gruyter (degruyter.com) }}</ref>

The majority of ancient biblical translations – including the [[Septuagint]], [[Theodotion]], [[Latin Vulgate]], [[Samaritan Targum]], [[Targum Onkelos]], and [[Targum Neofiti]] – interpret the word to mean "giants".<ref>{{cite book |last=van&nbsp;Ruiten |first=Jacques |year=2000 |title=Primaeval History Interpreted: The rewriting of ''Genesis''&nbsp;I–II in the ''Book of Jubilees'' |page=189 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-9004116580 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xxo82l7TeQC&pg=PA189 }}</ref> [[Symmachus (translator)|Symmachus]] translates it as "the violent ones"<ref name=Wright80-81>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=Archie T. |year=2005 |title=The Origin of Evil Spirits: The reception of ''Genesis''&nbsp;6.1–4 in early Jewish literature |pages=80–81 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wzh7LXv4sZkC&pg=PA81 |isbn=978-3161486562}}</ref>{{efn|
The [[ancient Greek|Greek]] translation reads {{lang|grc|{{math|'οι βιαιοι}} }}; the singular root {{lang|grc|{{math|βιαιος}} }} means "violence" or "forcible".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Liddell |editor1-first=H.G. |editor1-link=Henry Liddell |editor2-last=Scott |editor2-first=R. |editor2-link=Robert Scott (philologist) |year=1883 |title=Greek–English Lexicon |publisher=New York, Harper |url=https://archive.org/stream/greekenglishlex00liddrich#page/282/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive (archive.org)}}</ref>
}}<ref name=Stackhouse>{{cite book |last=Stackhouse |first=Thomas |year=1869 |title=A History of the Holy Bible |page=53 |publisher=Blackie & Son |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hL0CAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA58}}</ref> and [[Aquila of Sinope|Aquila]]'s translation has been interpreted to mean either "the fallen ones"<ref name=Wright80-81/> or "the ones falling [upon their enemies]."<ref name=Stackhouse/><ref name=Salvesen-1994-1998>{{cite conference |last=Salvesen |first=Alison |title=Symmachus readings in the Pentateuch |book-title=Origen's Hexapla and Fragments |conference=The Rich Seminar on the Hexapla |place=Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies |date=25 July – 3 August 1994 |page=190 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |publication-date=1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xQDu27_HEIC&pg=PA190 |isbn=978-3161465758}}</ref>{{efn|
The rendering ''he fell upon, attacked'' [in Symmachus, Genesis 6:6] is something of a puzzle ... If it has been faithfully recorded, it may be related to the rendering of Aquila for the Nephilim in 6:4, {{lang|grc|{{math|οι επιπιπτοντες}} }}.<ref name=Salvesen-1994-1998/>
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