Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Didn't he say "abi"? That means "my father" in either language.

It's hard to trace when the "dad" usage began. My guess would be 1-2
centuries CE.

Yigal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Martin Shields" <enkidu AT bigpond.net.au>
To: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
Cc: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Aramaic - Abba


> Yigal,
>
> Do we know how far back this usage can be traced?
>
> I have heard the claim that Jesus' use of Abba should be understood
> as something equivalent to "dad", yet the Greek immediately offers
> pater (πατηρ; or more exactly ho pater ο πατηρ) as its
> "translation" of this word rather than one of the less formal Greek
> forms (such as pappas παππας). This, it seems to me, undermines
> the notion that Abba meant "dad" at this point in history. This
> prompts the question: did the "dad" meaning arise after that time?
>
> Martin Shields,
> Sydney, Australia.
>
> On 22/07/2005, at 7:40 PM, Yigal Levin wrote:
>
> > In Aramaic, Abba means "father". The Hebrew equivilant is Ab
> > (pronounced
> > Av). However since talmudic times, Jews have been using Abba as
> > something
> > like "dad", and still do today.
> >
> > The same, BTW, for Em (mother) and Ima (mom/mommy), Sav and Sabba
> > (grandfather vs. granddad). Savta (grandmother) is pronounced the
> > same in
> > Hebrew and Aramaic and so is used for both "grandmother" and
> > "grandma".
> >
>
>
>
>