ABBA

ABBA (Heb. אַבָּא), Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew (av, אָב; "father"). The term was in common use from the first century onward (cf. Mark 14:36). In the early centuries of the Christian era it was used in both Jewish and Christian sources in addressing God, and in talmudic times as a prefix to Hebrew names, probably to designate an esteemed scholar (cf. Abba Hilkiah, Abba Saul). K. Kohler , however, was of the opinion that the title referred specifically to Essenes. Because of its honorable association, it was forbidden to call slaves by this name (Ber. 16b). It often occurs independently, sometimes perhaps as an abbreviation of Abraham. Its fusion with the prefix "rav" (for "rabbi") gave rise in Babylonia to the names "Rabbah," "Rava," and to their abbreviated forms, "Ba" and   "Va" in Palestine. It is a common name among Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe and Israel, often used as an agnomen of Abraham. The word survives in European languages as an ecclesiastical designation (Abbas, Abt, Abbot), while in modern Hebrew it has largely displaced the Hebrew av as the popular term for "father." -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Klein, in: Leshonenu, 1 (1928/29), 326; Kohler, in: JQR, 13 (1900/01), 567–80 (but see Urbach, in: PIASH, 2, pt. 4 (1966), 17–36). (Cecil Roth)