de'-dan, de'dan-its (the King James Version Dedanim, ded'-a-nim; dedhan, "low," dedhanim): An Arabian people named in Ge 10:7 as descended from Cush; in Ge 25:3 as descended from Keturah. Evidently, they were, like the related Sheba (Sabaeans), of mixed race (compare Ge 10:7,28). In Isa 21:13 allusion is made to the "caravans of Dedanites" in the wilds of Arabia, and Ezek mentions them as supplying Tyre with precious things (Eze 27:20; in verse Eze 15:1-8, "Dedan" should probably be read as in Septuagint, "Rodan," i.e. Rhodians). The name seems still to linger in the island of Dadan, on the border of the Persian Gulf. It is found also in Min. and Sab. inscriptions (Glazer, II, 392 ff).
James Orr