Zimran

Zim´ran (sung, i.e. celebrated in song), a son of Abraham by Keturah, and the name of an Arabian tribe descended from him (Gen 25:2; 1Ch 1:32). This name may perhaps be connected with the Zabram mentioned by Ptolemy as a city with a king, situated between Mecca and Medina.

Zim’ran. (celebrated). The eldest son of Keturah. Gen 25:2; 1Ch 1:32. His descendants are not mentioned, nor is any hint given that he was the founder of a tribe. (B.C. 1855).

Oldest son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen 25:2). Settled in the E. country. Zabram, an ancient city between Mecca and Medina (Ptolemy 6:7, Section 5), and the Zamereni a tribe in the interior of Africa, are names comparable with Zimran.

[Zim’ran]

Son of Abraham and Keturah. Gen 25:2; 1Ch 1:32. His descendants have not been traced.

ZIMRAN.—A son of Abraham and Keturah, Gen 25:2 = 1Ch 1:32. The ethnological signification of the word is doubtful. The name is derived from zemer, ‘mountain-sheep or-goat,’ this animal having doubtless been the totem of the clan.

zim´ran (זמרן, zimrān, from זמר, zemer, “wild sheep” or “wild goat,” the ending -ān being gentilic; Skinner, Gen, 350): Son of Abraham and Keturah (Gen 25:2; 1Ch 1:32). The various manuscripts of the Septuagint give the name in different forms, e.g. in Gen A, Ζεβράν, Zebrán; Codex Sinaiticus Ζεμράν, Zemrán; Codex Alexandrinus(1) Ζεμβράμ, Zembrám; D^sil Ζομβράν, Zombrán; and Lucian Ζεμράν, Zemrán; in Chronicles, Codex Vaticanus has Ζεμβράν, Zembrán, Codex Alexandrinus Ζεμράν, Zemrán, Lucian Ζεμράν, Zemrán (compare Brooke and McLean’s edition of the Septuagint for Genesis).

Hence, some have connected the name with Zabram of Ptol. vi. 7, 5, West of Mecca; others with the Zamareni of Pliny (Ant. vi. 158) in the interior of Arabia; but according to Skinner and E. Meyer (see Gunkel, Gen³, 261) these would be too far south. Curtis (Chronicles, 72) says the name is probably to be identified with the “Zimri” of Jer 25:25. It would then be the name of a clan, with the mountain sheep or goat as its totem. See TOTEMISM.