ἀββᾶς

Forms

ἀββᾶς (abbâs) m (genitive ἀββᾶ, dative ἀββᾷ, accusative ἀββᾶν, vocative ἀββᾶ); earlier indeclinable ἀββᾶ (abbâ), often printed ἀββά or ἄββα.^[1][2] In the Byzantine period it also has a plural ἀββάδες, and it is sometimes written with one β.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Aramaic אַבָּא (ʾabbā, “father”), the emphatic form of the Aramaic word for “father”.^[1][3][4] The first Greek form was the indeclinable ἀββᾶ (abbâ), which reproduces the Aramaic emphatic form exactly, and the declined ἀββᾶς was made from it later.^[1][2] Because the New Testament uses the word only in address to God, it was taken for a vocative, and a nominative in -ᾶς was built to go with it.^[5][6]

The Aramaic word is related to Biblical Hebrew אָב (ʾāḇ, “father”) and Akkadian abu, all meaning “father”.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the New Testament in the phrase “Abba, Father” (Ἀββα ὁ πατήρ), always followed by its Greek translation, in Mark 14:36 and in two passages of Paul (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6).^[4][3][2] There it is an Aramaic form of address to God, taken over by Greek-speaking Christians as a formula of prayer.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Outside the New Testament the word became a title of respect.^[2][1] From the 4th century AD Gregory of Nazianzus, Athanasius and Palladius give it to monks, priests and bishops, and it came to mean the head of a monastic community, an “abbot”: 6th-century papyri from Oxyrhynchus speak of the community of “abba Jeremias”.^[2][1][8] Byzantine lexica gloss it as “old man” and “father”.^[1][9]

Through Latin abbās (Latin) it gave English abbot, which was first a title of any monk and later of the head of a monastery.^[10] In medieval vernacular Greek αββάς meant a monk, and the word survives in Modern Greek as αββάς (avvás).^[8][5][6]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Mark, Romans and Galatians use the indeclinable form in the prayer “Abba, Father”.^[4][2]
• 4th century AD – Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius use it as a title of respect for monks and church leaders.^[2][1]
• 6th century AD – Papyri from Oxyrhynchus use it for the head of a monastic community.^[2][1]
• 1100–1669 – Medieval vernacular Greek uses αββάς (avvás) for a monk.^[8]
• Modern Greek – The word lives on as αββάς (avvás).^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (New Testament) Father, in address to God, always with its translation ὁ πατήρ.^[4][2][7]
2. (Christian) A title of respect given to monks, priests and bishops.^[2][1]
3. (Christian) The head of a monastery; an abbot.^[2][1]

Related words

• Latin abbās
• English abbot

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rosół, Rafał, ed., Lexicon of Oriental Words in Ancient Greek, https://orientalwordsingreek.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
3. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
4. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
5. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
6. ^ a b c Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
7. ^ a b United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
8. ^ a b c Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
9. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com