Jastrow: בַּנָּאִים

בַּנָּאִים, בַּנָּאִין m. sing. a. pl. (contr. of בן נאים, v. נָאֶה) one of becoming conduct, refined, a cultured person; opp. בּוֹר; (cmp. Sabb. 114ᵃ top, as to a scholar’s duty to pay attention to dress). [For oth. opin., v. Sachs Beitr. II, 199; Frankel Monatsschr. 1846, p. 855.] Mikv. IX, 6; Sabb. l. c. של ב׳ וכ׳ the garments of a Bannaïm, if stained with pitch on one side cannot be immersed for levitical purposes before the stain is removed (because their owner is more fastidious). Tosef. Mikv. VI (VII), 14 (where גדולה a. קטנה refer to the stain; as to correct vers. v. R. S. to Mikv. l. c.). Sabb. l. c. מאי ב׳ what does B. mean? Answer: אלו וכ׳ it means the scholars who are engaged in building up the world (of civilization) all their lives (as if fr. בָּנָה). Ib. (dresses of the B.) אלו כלים וכ׳ are the court-garments imported &c., v. אוֹלָרִין.