מַנְעַמִּים

# Man'ammim: A Rare Biblical Delicacy The Hebrew word *man'ammim* (H4516) appears only once in the biblical text, making it one of the rarest vocabulary items in Scripture. It is defined as a "delicacy"—a food item of special quality, refinement, or desirability rather than ordinary sustenance. The singular occurrence severely limits what can be determined about its precise scope or the specific foods it might reference. The extreme scarcity of this term presents a challenge for understanding its exact significance within biblical Hebrew. Unlike common words for food or meals that appear repeatedly across various contexts, *man'ammim* offers no comparative usage data from which to refine its meaning or determine whether it carried specialized connotations. Scholars must rely entirely on its lexical definition and whatever context surrounds its single biblical appearance to grasp its intended referent. For general readers, *man'ammim* represents a category of exceptional foods—items distinguished by rarity, taste, or luxury—but the word itself remains largely inaccessible to modern study precisely because of its hapax legomenon status (appearing only once). This rarity highlights how much of biblical vocabulary remains dependent on isolated textual instances and lexicographic inference rather than the reinforcement of repeated usage patterns.