Bosworth Toller's

Anglo-Saxon

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abbad

  • noun [ masculine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
abbad, abbod, abbud, abbot, es; m: abboda, an; m.
an abbot; abbās the title of the male superior of certain religious establishments, thence called abbeys. The word abbot appears to have been, at first, applied to any member of the clerical order, just as the French Père and English Father. In the earliest age of monastic institutions the monks were not even priests: they were merely religious persons, who retired from the world to live in common, and the abbot was one of their number, whom they elected to preside over the association. In regard to general ecclesiastical discipline, all these communities were at this early time subject to the bishop of the diocese, and even to the pastor of the parochial district within the bounds of which they were established. At length it began to be usual for the abbot to be in orders; and since the sixth century monks generally have been priests. In point of dignity an abbot is generally next to a bishop. A minute account of the different descriptions of abbots may be found in Du Cange's Glossary, and in Carpentier's supplement to that work
Show examples

  • Se árwurða abbad Albínus

    the reverend abbot Albinus,

    • Bd. pref.

  • Riht is ðæt abbodas fæste on mynstrum wunian

    it is right that abbots dwell closely in their minsters,

    • L. I. P. 13; Th. ii. 320, 30
      • .

  • Her Forþréd abbud forþférde

    in this year abbot Forthred died,

    • Chr. 803; Erl. 60, 13
      • .

  • Se abbot Saxulf

    the abbot Saxulf,

    • Chr. 675; Ing. 50, 15
      • .

  • Swá gebireþ abbodan

    as becometh abbots,

    • L. Const. W. p. 150, 27;
    • L. I. P. 13; Th. ii. 320, 35
      • .
bishops were sometimes subject to an abbot, as they were to the abbots of Iona
Show examples

  • Nú, sceal beón ǽfre on Ií abbod, and ná biscop; and ðan sculon beón underþeódde ealle Scotta biscopas, forðan ðe Columba [MS. Columban] was abbod, ná biscop

    now, in Ií [Iona] , there must ever be an abbot, not a bishop; and to him must all bishops of the Scots be subject, because Columba was an abbot, not a bishop,

    • Chr. 565; Th. 32, 10-16, col. l.
Etymology
[
Laym. abbed
:
O. Frs. abbete
:
N. Ger. abt
:
O. H. Ger. abbat
:
Lat. abbas; gen. abbātis an abbot
:
Goth. abba
:
Syr. אבָּאַ abba father, from Heb. באָ ab father, pl. תוֹבאָ abot fathers.
]
Derived forms
abbad-dóm, -hád, -isse, -ríce, abboda
Linked entries
v.  abbod abboda abbot abbud.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “abbad.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/22.

Checked: 1
Full form

Word-wheel

  • abbad, n.

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