Ab (Semitic)

Last updated

Ab or Av (related to Akkadian abu [1] ), sometimes Abba, means "father" in most Semitic languages.

Contents

Arabic

Ab ( أَب ), from a theoretical, abstract form (آبَاءٌʼabawun) (triliteral ʼ-b-w) is Arabic for "father". The dual is (أَبَوَانِʼabawāni) or (أَبَانِʼabāni) "two fathers" or "mother and father" (آبَاءِكَʼābāʼi-ka meaning "thy parents").

Li-llāhi ʼabū-ka (للهِ أَبُوكَ) is an expression of praise, meaning "to God is attributable [the excellence of] your father".

As a verb, ʼ-b-w means "to become [as] a father to [somebody]" (أَبَوْتُهʼabawt-uh, "paternity") or "to adopt [him] as a father" (تأَبَّبَهُta'abbaba-hu or اِسْتَأَبَّهُ ista'aba-hu).

In the construct state, Abū ( أبو ) is followed by another word to form a complete name, e.g.: Abu Mazen, another name for Mahmoud Abbas.

Abu may be used as a kunya, an honorific. To refer to a man by his fatherhood (of male offspring) is polite, so that ʼabū takes the function of an honorific. Even a man who is as yet childless may still be known as abū of his father's name, implying that he will yet have a son called after his father.

The combination is extended beyond the literal sense: a man may be described as acting as a father in his relation to animals, e.g., Abu Bakr, "the father of a camel's foal"; Abu Huraira, "father of kittens". In some cases, a man's enemies will refer to him in such a way to besmirch him, e.g. Abu Jahl, "the father of ignorance". A man may be described as being the possessor of some quality, as Abu'l Na'ama "father of grace", or "the graceful one"; Abu'l Fida, "father of devotion", or "the devout one". An object or a place may be given a nickname, such as Abu'l hawl, "father of terror", (the Sphinx at Giza). Abu'l fulus, "father of money", is frequently used to refer to a place where rumors have been told of a treasure being hidden there.

The Swahili word Bwana , meaning "mister", "sir", or "lord", is derived from the Arabic Abuna (أبونا), "our father". [2]

Aramaic

The Aramaic term for father is אבא (abba).

Judaism

The Aramaic term abba (אבא, Hebrew : אב (av), "father") appears in traditional Jewish liturgy and Jewish prayers to God, e.g. in the Kaddish (קדיש, Qaddish Aramaic, Hebrew : קדש (Qādash), "holy").

The Pirkei Avot (Hebrew : פרקי אבות "Chapters of the Fathers") are a Mishnaic tractate of Avot, the second-to-last tractate in the order of Nezikin in the Talmud. The tractate of Pirkei Avot deals with ethical and moral principles.

Abba is a common given name in the Talmud. It is also used there as a title or honorific for religious scholars or leaders.

Christendom

A transliteration of the Aramaic term abba also appears three times in the Greek New Testament of the Bible. Each time the term appears in transliteration it is followed immediately by the translation ho pater in Greek, which literally means “the father.” In each case it is used with reference to God. Mark records that Jesus used the term when praying in Gethsemane shortly before his death, saying: “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; remove this cup from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.” (Mark 14:36) The two other occurrences are in Paul's letters, at Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6. It seems evident from these texts that, in apostolic times, the Christians made use of the term ’Abba in their prayers to God.

Early Christian desert fathers are referred to as abba: Abba Anthony , Abba Macarius . In Oriental Orthodoxy some high ranking bishop titles derive from Abba (Aboona, Abuna), as does the monastic title abbot in Western Christianity.

Some Christian literature translates abba to "daddy", suggesting that it is a childlike, intimate term for one's father. [3] However, abba, unlike "daddy", is used by adult children as well as young children, and in the time of Jesus it was neither markedly a term of endearment [4] [5] [6] nor a formal word. Scholars suggest instead translating it as "Papa", as the word normally used by sons and daughters, throughout their lives, in the family context. [7] [6]

The name Barabbas in the New Testament comes from the Aramaic phrase Bar Abba meaning "son of the father".

Hebrew

Av (Hebrew : אָב, Standard Av Tiberian ʾĀḇ Aramaic אבא Abba; related to Akkadian abu; "father" ; plural: Hebrew : אבותAvot or Abot) means "father" in Hebrew. The exact meaning of the element ab (אב) or abi (אבי) in Hebrew personal names (such as Ab-ram, Ab-i-ram, Ah-ab, Jo-ab) is a matter of dispute. The identity of the -i- with the first person pronominal suffix (as in Adona-i), changing "father" to "my father", is uncertain; it might also be simply a connecting vowel. The compound may either express a nominal phrase (Av[i]ram = "[my] father is exalted") or simply an apposition. In the case of an apposition the second word would require a definite article (Av[i] hasafa = "father of the language", Ha= the). The word generally used today for "father" in Hebrew is abba, though ab survives in such archaisms as Abi Mori ("My father, my master") and Kibud av wa-em ("Honor of father and mother").[ citation needed ]

Coptic

In the non-Semitic Coptic language, apa means father. It was originally used as a title of reverence for clergy and was later extended to martyrs. Many variants are known. The form apater or apa pater appears at the beginning of the Lord's Prayer. Anba and ampa are attested variants, often used in Arabic among Copts. In the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, it is apou; in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers , it is abba or abbas. The feminine forms ama or amma are used for nuns. [8]

Somali

Father is translated aabbe or aabe, with the definite article form aabbaha or aabaha (the father).

See also

Related Research Articles

Ḥasīd is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observance of Jewish law, and often one who goes beyond the legal requirements of ritual and ethical Jewish observance in daily life. In the Mishnah, the term is used thirteen times, the majority of which being in the Tractate Pirkei Avot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Names of God in Judaism</span> Names given to God in Judaism

Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: יהוה, אֲדֹנָי, אֵל, אֱלֹהִים, שַׁדַּי, and צְבָאֽוֹת ; some also include I Am that I Am. Early authorities considered other Hebrew names mere epithets or descriptions of God, and wrote that they and names in other languages may be written and erased freely. Some moderns advise special care even in these cases, and many Orthodox Jews have adopted the chumras of writing "G-d" instead of "God" in English or saying Ṭēt-Vav instead of Yōd-Hē for the number fifteen or Ṭēt-Zayin instead of Yōd-Vav for the Hebrew number sixteen.

ABBA is a Swedish pop music group.

Shekhinah is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning "dwelling" or "settling" and denotes the presence of God in a place. This concept is found in Judaism and the Torah, as mentioned in Exodus 25:8.

Arabic language names have historically been based on a long naming system. Many people from the Arabic-speaking and also non-Arab Muslim countries have not had given/middle/family names but rather a chain of names. This system remains in use throughout the Arabic and Muslim worlds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Av (month)</span> 5th month of the Hebrew calendar

Av is the eleventh month of the civil year and the fifth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a month of 30 days, and usually occurs in July–August on the Gregorian calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nabu</span> Mesopotamian god of literacy and scribes

Nabu is the Babylonian patron god of literacy, the rational arts, scribes, and wisdom. He is associated with the classical planet Mercury in Babylonian astronomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pirkei Avot</span> Tractate of the Mishnah

Pirkei Avot, which translates to English as Chapters of the Fathers, is a compilation of the ethical teachings and maxims from Rabbinic Jewish tradition. It is part of didactic Jewish ethical literature. Because of its contents, the name is sometimes given as Ethics of the Fathers. Pirkei Avot consists of the Mishnaic tractate of Avot, the second-to-last tractate in the order of Nezikin in the Mishnah, plus one additional chapter. Avot is unique in that it is the only tractate of the Mishnah dealing solely with ethical and moral principles; there is relatively little halakha (laws) in Pirkei Avot.

Over recorded history, there have been many names of the Levant, a large area in the Near East, or its constituent parts. These names have applied to a part or the whole of the Levant. On occasion, two or more of these names have been used at the same time by different cultures or sects. As a natural result, some of the names of the Levant are highly politically charged. Perhaps the least politicized name is Levant itself, which simply means "where the sun rises" or "where the land rises out of the sea", a meaning attributed to the region's easterly location on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

There exists a consensus among scholars that the language of Jesus and his disciples was Aramaic. Aramaic was the common language of Judea in the first century AD. The villages of Nazareth and Capernaum in Galilee, where Jesus spent most of his time, were Aramaic-speaking communities. Jesus likely spoke a Galilean variant of the language, distinguishable from that of Jerusalem. Based on the symbolic renaming or nicknaming of some of his apostles it is also likely that Jesus and at least one of his apostles knew enough Koine Greek to converse with those not native to Judea. It is reasonable to assume that Jesus was well versed in Hebrew for religious purposes.

Among the honorifics in Judaism, there are several traditional honorifics for the dead which are used when naming and speaking of the deceased. Different honorifics might be applied depending on the particular status of the deceased. These honorifics are frequently found on gravestones, on memorial walls inside the sanctuary of synagogues, in speeches, and in writing such as in obituaries.

The Zugot, also called Zugoth or Zugos in the Ashkenazi pronunciation, refers both to the two-hundred-year period during the later Second Temple period in which the spiritual leadership of the Jews was in the hands of five successions of "pairs" of religious teachers, and to each of these pairs themselves.

A kunya is a teknonym in an Arabic name, the name of an adult derived from their eldest child. Sometimes, however, it is derived from the eldest male if the eldest child is female.

Mar, also Mor in Western Syriac, is an Aramaic word meaning "lord". The corresponding feminine forms in Syriac are Morth and Marth for "lady".

Shin-Lamedh-Mem is a triconsonantal root of many Semitic words. The root meaning translates to "whole, safe, intact, unharmed, to go free, without blemish". Its earliest known form is in the name of Shalim, the ancient god of dusk of Ugarit. Derived from this are meanings of "to be safe, secure, at peace", hence "well-being, health" and passively "to be secured, pacified, submitted".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avot of Rabbi Natan</span>

Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, usually printed together with the minor tractates of the Talmud, is a Jewish aggadic work probably compiled in the geonic era. Although Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is the first and longest of the "minor tractates", it probably does not belong in that collection chronologically, having more the character of a late midrash. In the form now extant it contains a mixture of Mishnah and Midrash, and may be technically designated as a homiletical exposition of the Mishnaic tractate Pirkei Avot, having for its foundation an older recension (version) of that tractate. It may be considered as a kind of "tosefta" or "gemarah" to the Mishna Avot, which does not possess a traditional gemarah. Avot de-Rabbi Nathan contains many teachings, proverbs, and incidents that are not found anywhere else in the early rabbinical literature. Other rabbinical sayings appear in a more informal style than what is found in Pirkei Avot.

There are a number of honorifics in Judaism that vary depending on the status of, and the relationship to, the person to whom one is referring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abba Saul</span>

Abba Saul was a fourth generation Tanna.

Father has been used as both title and honorific in various languages, synonyms and historical contexts. It may sometimes denote a title of authority or of honour.

References

Citations

  1. Gary Staats. A Short Inductive Akkadian Grammar Based on the Epilogue of Hammurapi's Code. Reverend Dr Gary Staats. p. 16. GGKEY:JB4GND7JKWT.
  2. "Definition of BWANA".
  3. Tarazi, Fr. Paul. "The Name of God: Abba." Word Magazine - Publication of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America (May 1980) pp. 5-6. http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/bible/tarazi_name_of_god.htm
  4. James Barr, "Abba isn't 'daddy'", Journal of Theological Studies, 39:28-47.
  5. "Abba Isn't Daddy – the Traditional Aramaic Father's Day Discussion". 22 June 2009.
  6. 1 2 Mary Rose D'Angelo, "Abba and 'Father': Imperial Theology and the Jesus Traditions", Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 111, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 615-616
  7. Bauckham, Richard (2011). Jesus. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN   9780199575275.
  8. Aziz Suryal Atiya (1991), Apa, Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 1.

Bibliography