Abba

See also: Appendix:Variations of "abba"

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Latin abba, from Ancient Greek ἀββα (abba), from Aramaic אבא/ܐܒܐ (ʼabbāʼ, “father”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæb.ə/, /æˈbɑ/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈæb.ə/, /æˈbɑ/
Rhymes: -æbə
Homophone: abba

Noun

Abba (plural Abbas)

(Christianity) Father, an honorific title given to God in the New Testament, especially used in prayers.^[1] [First attested around 1350 to 1470.]^[2]
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Galatians 4:6:
  And because yee are sonnes, God hath sent foorth the spirit of his Sonne into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.

Translations

honorific title given to God in the New Testament

Aghwan: 𐔰𐔱𐔰 (aba)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: abba (no), fader (no) m
Swedish: Abba, Fader (sv) c

References

^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN)
^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “Abba”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3.

Anagrams

baba, AABB, Baba, ba-ba

Italian

Proper noun

Abba m or f by sense

a surname
Giuseppe Cesare Abba, Italian writer and patriot

Marta Abba, Italian actress

Anagrams

babà

Old English

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɑb.bɑ/
Rhymes: -ɑb.bɑ

Proper noun

Abba m

a male given name

Declension

Weak:

	singular	plural
nominative	Abba	—
accusative	Abban	—
genitive	Abban	—
dative	Abban	—

References

Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Abney”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 4.

Old Saxon

	A user has added this entry to requests for verification⁽⁺⁾ with the reason: “Source, "Vorwort": ".. altniederdeutschen Eigennamen .. aus verschiedenen Teilen Niederdeutschlands, aus dem fränkischen, sächsischen und friesischen Gebiete stammen", i.e. containing proper names from Old Low Franconian, Old Saxon and Old Frisian.”
	If it cannot be verified that this term meets our attestation criteria, it will be deleted. Feel free to edit this entry as normal, but do not remove `{{rfv}}` until the request has been resolved.

Proper noun

Abba

a female given name

References

	A user suggests that this Old Saxon entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “Wrong name (it's Moritz), lacks year and info what "1" is (vol., page); same applies for other results: [1]”.
	Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup⁽⁺⁾ for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

Dr. Heyne, Mortiz. Altniederdeutsche Eigennamen aus dem neunten bis elften Jahrhundert, 1.

Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:

Abba (hederstitel)

Wikipedia ^sv

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀββᾶ (abbâ), from Aramaic אַבָּא (ʾabbā, “father”).^[1]^[2]

Proper noun

Abba n (genitive Abbas)

(Christianity) Abba (honorific title for God the Father)
Synonym: Fader
- 2000, 1973 års bibelkommission, “Markusevangeliet 14:36 [Mark 14:36]”, in Bibel 2000‎^[2], © Svenska Bibelsällskapet, accessed at Bible.com, archived from the original on 9 September 2025:
  Han sade: »Abba! Fader! För dig är allting möjligt.«
  He said: "Abba! Father! For you all things are possible."
- 2010, Lars Cavallin, transl., Katolska kyrkans katekes [Catechism of the Catholic Church]‎^[3], Catholica, archived from the original on 19 November 2023, §2605:
  "Abba, …låt din vilja ske, inte min"
  "Abba, …let your will be done, not mine"
alternative form of ABBA (Swedish pop group)

References

^ “Abba”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
^ 1867, Anders Melander, "Ἀββᾶ", in Grekiskt-svenskt hand-lexicon till Nya testamentet, L.J. Hiertas förlag, accessed at Runeberg.org, courtesy of Library of Congress, archived from the original on 2017-10-18

[1] Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN)

[2] Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “Abba”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3.

[3] “Abba”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)

[4] 1867, Anders Melander, "Ἀββᾶ", in Grekiskt-svenskt hand-lexicon till Nya testamentet, L.J. Hiertas förlag, accessed at Runeberg.org, courtesy of Library of Congress, archived from the original on 2017-10-18

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