Etymology
From Middle English abbot, abbod, abbed, from Old English abbat, abbad, abbod, from Latin abbās (“father”), from Ancient Greek ἀββᾶς (abbâs), from Aramaic אבא (’abbā, “father”). Doublet of abba, abbé, and bwana.
Noun
abbot (plural abbots)
- The superior or head of an abbey or monastery. [First attested around the early 12th century.][1][2]
The newly appointed abbot decided to take a tour of the abbey with the cardinal's emissary.
- The pastor or administrator of an order, including minor and major orders starting with the minor order of porter.
- A layman who received the abbey's revenues, after the closing of the monasteries.
- (archaic, British slang) A brothel-owner's husband or lover.[3][4]
- (archaic, British slang) A ponce; a man employed by a prostitute to find clients, and who may also act as a bodyguard or equivalent to a bouncer.[3][4]
Translations
superior or head of an abbey or monastery
- Afrikaans: ab
- Albanian: kryemurg m
- Arabic: رَئِيس الدَّيْر (raʔīs ad-dayr)
- Armenian: աբբահայր (hy) (abbahayr), աբբա (hy) (abba), վանահայր (hy) (vanahayr)
- Asturian: abá m
- Basque: abade (eu)
- Belarusian: аба́т m (abát)
- Breton: abad (br) m
- Bulgarian: игумен (bg) (igumen)
- Burmese: ဆရာတော် (my) (hca.ratau)
- Catalan: abat (ca)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 方丈 (zh) (fāngzhàng), 住持 (zh) (zhùchí)
- Cornish: abas m
- Crimean Tatar: abbat
- Czech: opat (cs) m
- Danish: abbed (da)
- Dutch: abt (nl)
- Esperanto: abato (eo)
- Estonian: please add this translation if you can
- Faroese: abbati m
- Finnish: apotti (fi)
- French: abbé (fr) m
- Galician: abade (gl) m
- Georgian: აბატი (ka) (abaṭi)
- German: Abt (de) m
- Greek: ηγούμενος (el) (igoúmenos)
- Gullah: aabut
- Hindi: please add this translation if you can
- Hungarian: apát (hu)
- Icelandic: ábóti (is) m
- Ido: abado (io)
- Interlingua: abbate
- Irish: ab m, luamh m
- Italian: abate (it) m
- Japanese: 修道院長 (shūdōinchō), 住持 (ja) (jūji)
- Korean: 승정(僧正) (seungjeong), 수도원장(修道院長) (sudowonjang)
- Latin: abbās m, archimandrīta m
- Latvian: abats (lv) m
- Lithuanian: abatas (lt) m
- Luxembourgish: Abt m
- Macedonian: опат m (opat), игумен m (igumen)
- Malay: abbas
- Malayalam: മഠാധിപതി (ml) (maṭhādhipati)
- Maltese: please add this translation if you can
- Manx: abb m, fer-reill abban m
- Maori: apota
- Mongolian: хамба лам (mn) (xamba lam)
- Neapolitan: abbate m
- Norman: abbé m (Jersey)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: abbed (no) m
- Occitan: abat (oc) m
- Old Galician-Portuguese: abade m
- Pali: saṅghaṇāyaka m (Buddhism)
- Persian: راهب بزرگ (râheb-e bozorg)
- Polish: opat (pl) m pers
- Portuguese: abade (pt) m
- Romagnol: abêt m
- Romanian: egumen (ro) m, stareț (ro) m
- Russian: абба́т (ru) m (abbát), настоя́тель (ru) m (nastojátelʹ), игу́мен (ru) m (igúmen) (Orthodox)
- Serbo-Croatian: игуман m, iguman (sh) m, опат m, opat (sh) m
- Slovak: opát (sk) m
- Slovene: opat (sl) m
- Spanish: abad (es) m
- Swahili: please add this translation if you can
- Swedish: abbot (sv)
- Tagalog: abad (tl)
- Thai: เจ้าอาวาส (th)
- Turkish: başrahip (tr)
- Ukrainian: аба́т (uk) m (abát)
- Vietnamese: (Christianity) (cha) trưởng tu viện/ (Buddhism) phương trượng trong tùng lâm, (Buddhism) trụ trì tự viện
- Volapük: (male or female) lepädan (vo), (male) hilepädan
- Welsh: abad (cy) m
- West Frisian: abt c, abbet c
- Zulu: please add this translation if you can
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References
Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 2 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abbot”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3. John S[tephen] Farmer, compiler (1890) “abbot”, in Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present. […], volume I, [London: […] Thomas Poulter and Sons] […], →OCLC, page 4.