ἀββᾶς <Semitic; Roman period>
👉 ἀββᾶς and ἀββᾶ, gen. ἀββᾶ, dat. ἀββᾷ, acc. ἀββᾶν, voc. ἀββᾶ (in the Byzantine period also pl. ἀββἁδες), in the editions often with the acute accent (oxytone or paroxytone) m. – ‘father (a title of respect given to monks)’ (Greg. Nzz., Lit. Alex. 713D; Ath. Alex., Narr. Fug. 980D; Ps.-Ath. Alex., Epist. Ad Cast. 861A, B; etc.), ‘abbot’ (Evagr. Pont., De or. 108, 1192A; Dor., Doct. 1.15, 1637A; P.Oxy. 2480.31, 44, 46: 6th c. CE; etc.), ‘father (a title of respect given to bishops or priests)’ (CIG 4 8646.8: 6th c. CE; Cosm. Ind. 6 321B); occasionally, written with one -β- (P.Iand. 43.16: 6th c. CE; SEG 31 1430.3: 7th c. CE). Cf. Cyrill. ἀββᾶς: εὐήθης· διδάσκαλος – “abbas: good-hearted; teacher”; Hsch. Gloss. Disc. P. VI: ἀββᾶς: ὁ γέρων∙ ὁ πατήρ – “abbas: old man; father”.
🅔 An Aramaic loanword – Old and Official Aramaic ʾb ‘father; ancestor’, Biblical Aramaic ʾaḇ ‘id.’, Jewish Aramaic ʾāḇ, ʾabbā ‘id.’, Syriac ʾabbā ‘father’; cf. Akkadian abu(m) ‘father; ancestor’, Eblaite a-bù ‘father’, Ugaritic ảb ‘id.’, Phoenician and Punic ʾb ‘father; ancestor’, Biblical Hebrew ʾāḇ ‘id.’ Etc. The original Greek form was ἀββᾶ, which corresponds exactly to the Aramaic emphatic form ʾabbā, including the position of the accent on the last syllable (in the Roman period, the Aramaic emphatic state representing a definite noun became used also for indefinite nouns). The secondary form ἀββᾶς was expanded with the Greek nominative ending -ς. Cf. ἀββα and ἄπα.
📖 Data: CAD: I, 67-73; CDA: 3; DCH: I, 91-98; DJBA: 72f.; DJPA: 31f.; DNWSI: 1-3; DUL: 4f.; HALOT: 1f. and 1805f.; PhPD: 26f.; SL: 1.