Bible Dictionaries
Abba (2)

　　ABBA.—An Aramaic word preserved by St. Mark in our Lord’s prayer in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36 ὁ πατήρ by St. Paul (Romans 8:15 ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν κρᾶζον, ἁββᾶ) corresponds to the Aramaic אִב abh), and means ‘Father,’ unless it is used for ‘my Father’ ( [Note: Targum.] of Onkelos and pseudo-Jonathan; see Dalman, Aramaisch-Neuhebräisches Wörterbuch, s.v., Gramm. p. 162, and Words of Jesus, p. 192 [Dalman says that the suffix of 1 pers. sing. is ‘deliberately avoided with אַבָּא Genesis 44:19, or אֲבוּהי etc., and the pl. definite state is ܐܰܒܳܐ abhâ (pron. av, avâ, or aw, awâ), etc., and the distinction between abâ, a spiritual father, and אַבֽא, and says it is an abbreviation of ܐܲܒܵܐ (i.e. with אַבָא, but only a natural father, or a father who adopts; in the former sense they use some other word. But this throws no light on the pronunciation of Abba.

　　It is to be noticed that it is not certain how the Greeks of the 1st cent. themselves pronounced Ἀββᾶ to mean merely ‘Father.’ And the same is probably true of the translators of the Peshitta. The Sinaitic Syriac, however, appears to read ὁ πατήρ in all the three places where it occurs in NT. In Mark 14:36 the Peshitta reads ܐܳܒܼܝܝ ‘my Father.’ In Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6 the Peshitta reads ὁ πατήρ is the Evangelist’s explanation, for Greek readers, of the Aramaic word. St. Mark undoubtedly reports several Aramaic words, and except in the case of the well-known ‘Rabbi,’ ‘Rabboni’ (Mark 9:5; Mark 10:51 etc.), explains them. But then he always uses a formula, ὁ πατήρ being an addition of the Evangelist is that, whatever view we take of our Lord’s having made use of Greek in ordinary speech, it is extremely unlikely that His prayers were in that language; and if He prayed in Aramaic, He would only say ‘Abba.’ It is the common experience of bilingual countries that though the acquired language may be in constant use for commerce or the ordinary purposes of life, the native tongue is tenaciously retained for devotion and prayer. Sanday-Headlam’s supposition (Romans, in loc.), that our Lord used both words spontaneously, with deep emotion, might be quite probable if He prayed in the foreign tongue, Greek; but scarcely so if He prayed in the native Aramaic (see, however, below).

　　If מריκύριε. Chase (‘The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church,’ in the Cambridge and Studies, vol. i. p. 23) has suggested another origin for the phrase, which would place its home, not among the Jews (for which there is no evidence), but among the Christians. He suggests that it is due to the shorter or Lukan form of the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2 ff.). The Aramaic shorter form would begin with Abba, for the Greek begins with Πάτερ ἡμῶν, the initial word of the Aramaic would have had the possessive pronominal suffix of 1 pers. pl., and would be ὁ πατήρ is used for