Deuteronomy 2:20 names them as an ancient people of the land of Amon, and equates them with the Repha'im: "That too was regarded as a land of Repha'im: Repha'im dwelt therein aforetime; but the Beney Amon (Ammonites) call them Zamzumim."
Some translations render Repha'im as "giants", rather than as the name of a tribe, with absolutely no justification that I can discover. Almost every aboriginal people in the region seems to get denoted as "giants" at some point; perhaps there were ancestral memories of Neanderthals, or myths of the region equivalent to the Greek Titans. Deuteronomy 2:21 compares the Repha'im with the Anakim, "a people great, and many, and tall"; but "tall" and "giant" are not synonyms.
Genesis 14 tells of the four kings who came from the east to make war against the cities of the plain, the five cities later destroyed by volcanic eruption, or divine fury, which may be the same thing. Along the way they smote the Repha'im (רְפָאִים) in Ashterot Karnayim, the Zuzim (זּוּזִים) in Ham (הָם) and the Eymim (אֵימִים) in Shaveh (שָׁוֵה).
Various attempts to explain the meaning can be found here, though none of them actually manage it. Gesenius assumes the word is onomatopoeic, which is feasible, but unlikely to be a name one gives oneself if it does indeed mean "buzz" as he believes. There is a Zemamo (זְמָמוֹ) in Psalm 140:9, used to mean "bad advice", which might be a plausible root, but again, even if it is, then no one is going to give this name to themselves - and both these possible sobriquets could explain why the Repha'im "were once called Zamzumim".
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