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What does the word "Rab" mean?
#1
I have heard the claim from a Muslim that "rab" means both "father" and "God". Is this true?

Thanks,
John
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#2
"Rab" or "rav" in pretty much every Aramaic language merely means "great" or "big" or "chief." It's a very common word and is used in all sorts of compounds and phrases (for example, it's where the word "rabbi" comes from).

Peace,
-Steve
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#3
Awesome! Thanks.

Can you tell me the Aramaic words for "God" and "Father", and do you know of a website that has that info so I can cite my source for my Muslim friend?

Thanks!
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#4
Alaha- God

Abba- Father

http://www.learnassyrian.com, http://www.aramaicnt.org are sources you could cite for these. "Abba" is transliterated into Greek in several places in the Greek NT.
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#5
Rab is short for rab-ba, which literally means "great one." However in usage, rab-ba many times means "teacher" in the New Testament. Father is pronounced A-wa in Chaldean Aramaic and transliterated into the Greek New Testament as Abba. The second letter of the Aramaic alphabet (Beth) has a "b" and a "w" sound. Greek doesn't have a "w" sound so that sound was often transliterated as "b" in the New Testament. "Father" is pronounced av-va in Assyrian. The letter Beth has a "b" and a "v" sound in Assyrian as well as in Sephardic Hebrew. The one letter (Beth) is doubly pronounced in Assyrian but not so in Chaldean. The spelling is the same but the pronunciation is sometimes different in the different Aramaic dialects.
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