Ahab
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Hebrew אַחְאָב (Ach'av, “uncle”); from אַח (ach, “brother”) + אָב (av, “father”). Attested to in Akkadian as 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 (Achabu).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 333: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈeɪˌhæb/
Proper noun
Ahab
- A king of Israel, mentioned in the Bible.
- A male given name from Hebrew, very rarely used.
Quotations
- 1851 Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 16:
- Oh! he ain’t Captain Bildad; no, and he ain’t Captain Peleg; he’s Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king!"
- "And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?"
- "Come hither to me—hither, hither," said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost startled me. "Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself .'Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove prophetic.
Translations
biblical king of Israel