FAN, FANNER

fan'-er: The word "fan" occurs 3 times only in the American Standard Revised Version (Jeremiah 15:7; Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17). In Isaiah 30:24 mizreh is translated "fork," which is a much better translation if the instrument referred to was shaped like the winnowing fork used by the Syrian farmer today and still so called. In Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 4:11; 15:7, the verb zarah is rendered "winnow" in the American Standard Revised Version. In Jeremiah 51:2, the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "strangers" for "fanners."

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.