ABBA

A Syriac word signifying Father, and expre ive of attachment and confidence. St. Paul says, Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. (Rom. viii. 15; comp. Gal. iv. 6.) The word is derived from the Hebrew Ab : and, if we may ascend still higher, that word itself (as many others which occur in that language) proceeds from the voice of nature; being one of the most obvious sounds, to expre one of the first and most obvious ideas. ABBÉ. The designation a umed in France, before the Revolution, by certain persons, who, whether in the higher orders of the ministry or not, ostensibly devoted themselves to theological studies, in the hope that the king would confer upon them a real abbey, i.e. a certain portion of the revenues of a real abbey. Hence it became the common title of unemployed secular priests. In Italy the word Abate was similarly used, to designate one who merely adopted the clerical habit. [ Vocabolario dell a Crusca. ]