The familiar noun πατηρ (pater) means father. Though from the ancient Proto-Indo-European root "pater-", its etymology is obscure but it's possibly onomatopoeic after baby babble, and is among the oldest words still in use in the world. It's cognate with Sanskrit pitar, Latin pater, German Vater and English "father". Its parental counterpart is μητηρ (meter), and see our article on that word for a closer look at the meaning of family relations.

The word πατηρ (pater) predominantly denotes the male parent but is not limited to this. In fact, English words that contain the word "father" derive from the idea of the male parent, but in older languages the idea of the male parent stems from a more general idea, and that more general idea is called πατηρ (pater) or אב ('ab) in Hebrew (which is possibly also cognate).

In the Bible, the word πατηρ (pater) denotes the biological male parent (Matthew 2:22) or the legal male parent (Luke 2:48). It may denote a remote ancestor (Matthew 3:9) and the plural may denote collective ancestors (Matthew 23:30). Our word may also denote the long gone instigator of a modus operandi or conviction (Romans 4:11, John 8:38) or a present tutor (1 Corinthians 4:15) or the respected older generation within a mixed group (Acts 7:2, 1 John 2:13).

Obviously, this word is also often used for God (Matthew 6:9), which reveals one of the characteristics by which Judeo-Christian worldviews differ from others. No other religion sees God as an intimate father figure the way the Jews and Christians do.

Names that include the noun πατηρ (pater), like Cleopater and Antipater, often also appear with this word contracted into πας (pas), like Cleopas and Antipas. The joke here is that this contracted form is identical to the word πας (pas), meaning all or whole. These two words are formally unrelated, but the obvious pun is that in Hebrew, the word for "all" is כל (kol), which expands into כלה (kalla), meaning bride. In short: to the Greeks, All is Father, whereas to the Hebrews All is Bride.

Or rather more precise: the Hebrews see society and its fluidic and spontaneous economy and interaction as maternal, whereas the rigid legal code that ultimately governs society is seen as paternal. Particularly when the rules that govern the whole of natural reality are concerned, the Hebrews viewed the Father as eternal and unchanging and utterly inviolable. The Greek (and Latin and thus European) idea of fatherhood pivots on a brief encounter between one's two physical parents, a subsequent physical descent and a wide-open possibility of revolt and enmity between sons and their father. Hence, the Greek chief deity Zeus had become chief only after his organized insurrection against his own father Kronos, whom he subsequently imprisoned. Likewise, Zeus' own son Apollo frequently went against him. In Hebrew, this chain of events does not exist.

The Hebrew sense of fatherhood has nothing to do with physical descent. Instead, a man's "will" (his nature, desires, convictions, hopes, objectives) can either be represented by his own actions, or it can be represented by a group of subsequent men who "follow" his will and collectively keep up the man's will and pursue his objectives (see, for instance, the "sons" of Rechab, or the patriarchies of Jabal and Jubal). Any man who joins the "followers" and endeavors to keep the "will" of the first man going, is his "son". Such a secondary man would indeed often be the first man's physical descendant, but not necessarily. And a physical descendant who disobeys the first man, also forfeits his sonhood.

The Hebrew word for to distinguish is בין (bin), which is also the verb for to understand (because all understanding starts with being able to tell differences). This word is strikingly similar to the word for son, namely בן (ben), which in turn resembles the word for stone, namely אבן ('eben), as well as the verb that means to build, namely בנה (bana). The feminine version of the word for son is the word for daughter, namely בת (bat), which resembles the noun בית (bayit), meaning house or temple (also see our article on the noun υιος, huios, which is the Greek word for son, but also rather more in a legal way than in a biological way).

Our noun πατηρ (pater) occurs 417 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from this word come the following derivations: