rabbi

Forms

rabbī m (indeclinable)^[1] The TLL also records a declined genitive rabbītis and plural rabbītēs, and the spellings rabi and rhabbi.^[2] Medieval Latin also has rabbinus, rabbis and rabbita.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥαββί (rhabbí), a word of Hebrew or Aramaic origin meaning “my master”.^[2][4] Wiktionary traces the Greek to Biblical Hebrew רבי (rabī, “rabbi, spiritual teacher”), formed from רב (raḇ, “master”) with the possessive suffix meaning “my”;^[1] Etymonline calls the source Mishnaic Hebrew.^[5] The TLL explains the declined forms in ⟨-ītis⟩ as modelled on nouns such as Dioclēs, Dioclētis and abbās, abbātis, perhaps also on quiēs, quiētis.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the Old Latin Bible as a form of address, as when Judas greets Jesus with have, rabbi in Matthew 26:49.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Gospels it is used of Christ and of other teachers: the scribes and Pharisees like to be called rabbi, and the disciples of John the Baptist address him so.^[2] Jerome explains it as the word that Latin renders by magister and as Hebrew for “my master”, and he also uses it ironically: “you think yourself a little scholar and a rabbi”.^[2] The TLL notes that the possessive sense of the ending faded.^[2] In medieval British Latin it names experts in Jewish law and Jewish teachers, is applied to Christ, and becomes a title or personal name passing into a surname.^[3] English had it in biblical use in late Old English and as a title from the early 14th century.^[5]

Timeline

• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate keeps it as a form of address in the Gospels.^[2][6][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses the plural rabbites of the teachers of the Pharisees.^[3][4]
• early 14th century – English uses rabbi for a Jewish doctor of religious law.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) Master, teacher, as a respectful form of address, especially to Christ.^[2][6][1]
2. A title of Jewish teachers and scribes; a rabbi.^[2][7][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) An expert in Jewish law; also a title prefixed to personal names.^[3]

Related words

• English rabbi

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson