1. Father, found in many compound Hebrew proper names: as Abner, father of light; Absalom, father of peace.

2. The fifth month of the sacred, and the eleventh of the civil year among the Jews. It began, according to the latest authorities, with the new moon of August. It was a sad month in the Jewish calendar. On its first day, a fast was observed for the death of Aaron, Nu 33:38; and on its ninth, another was held in memory of the divine edicts which excluded so many that came out of Egypt from entering the promised land; and also, of the overthrow of the first and second temple. See MONTH.

Ab

This word, signifying 'father, source, origin,' is much used in compound proper names: as Ab-salom, 'father of peace;' it is also used in female proper names as Ab-igail, 'source of joy'; though some retain the word 'father' in females' names as 'the father's joy.' F?rst gives also to Ab the meanings of 'freshness strength, fruit'; but in proper names he often takes Ab to signify God; as Abijah, 'God is jah.' See NAMES.

Ab.

See MONTHS.

(father), an element in the composition of many proper names, of which Abba is a Chaldaic form, having the sense of "endowed with," "possessed of."

AB, in the Hebrew chronology, the eleventh month of the civil year, and the fifth of the ecclesiastical year, which began with Nisan. This month answered to the moon of July, comprehending part of July and August, and contained thirty days.

The first day of this month is observed as a fast by the Jews, in memory of Aaron's death; and the ninth, in commemoration of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, in the year before Christ 587. Josephus observes, that the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar happened on the same day of the year on which it was afterward burned by Titus. The same day was remarkable for Adrian's edict, which prohibited the Jews to continue in Judea, or to look toward Jerusalem and lament its desolation. The eighteenth day is also kept as a fast, because the sacred lamp was extinguished on that night, in the reign of Ahaz. On the twenty-first, or, according to Scaliger, the twenty-second day, was a feast called Xylophoria, from their laying up the necessary wood in the temple: and on the twenty-fourth, a feast in commemoration of the abolishing of a law by the Asmoneans, or Maccabees, which had been introduced by the Sadducees, and which enacted, that both sons and daughters should alike inherit the estate of their parents.