The familiar noun ραββι (rabbi) is Hebrew for "great one" or "my master" and is rather similar to our English words master and mister, which both stem from the familiar adjective μεγας (megas), great or large (or more precise: from the comparative of the Proto-Indo-European root "meg-", meaning great). Our noun ραββι (rabbi), similarly, comes from the Hebrew verb רבב (rabab), meaning to be or become many or much. Derived adjective רב (rab) means much, many or great, and the identical noun רב (rab) means chief or captain. Noun רב (rob) means multitude or abundance. Nouns רבבה (rebaba), רבו (ribo) and רבוא (ribo') mean ten-thousand or myriad. The noun ארבה (arbeh) denotes the locust, and in our article on the name Agabus, we argue that the noun חגב (hagab), or grasshopper, relates to the locust in the same way that the Nethinim (the lay temple servants) relate to the Cohanim (the formal priests).

Noun רביבים (rebibim) describes copious showers, which is particularly interesting, because the bringing about of a unified effect by means of many little impulses (arrows, stones, words, instructions, rain drops, and so on) is usually described by the verb ירה (yara). The noun מורה (moreh), which comes from this latter verb, may either mean rain or teacher. The familiar word Torah, meaning instructions, also comes from this verb. The Greek word for locust, namely ακρις (akris), relates to ακη (ake), meaning point or prick — hence the familiar word Acropolis, or city-peak, and hence the name Tigris, from the Sanskrit words tighri, arrow, and tigra, sharp or pointed, which were marks of formal authority (hence too the noun κυριος, kurios; also see our article on βατος, batos, meaning thorns or thornbush).

All this explains how the noun רב (rab) may also mean archer, which in turn helps to explain the bow of the white horseman (Revelation 6:2), and of course the many Archers in Jewish movies; probably most notably, Star Trek's Jonathan Archer, as predecessor of James Kirk (= Jacob's Church), but also Small Soldiers' Archer, Archer's Sterling Archer — obviously a pun on silver-bowed Apollo; see our article on the name Hellas and the noun αργυρος (arguros), silver — the heart-breaking Helen Archer from Ironweed (hence also, cleverly, Alex Levy from The Morning Show; see Isaiah 8:20), the hilariously offensive PI duo Spade and Archer from The Maltese Falcon, and actual bowman characters like Legolas and kin (Elf or אלף, aleph?), Weatherman David Spritzel, and even Robin Hood and Cupid.

Speaking of Cupid: the noun כף (kap), means open hand, whereas יד (yad), means clenched fist and ידד (yadad), means to love, hence the name David, meaning Beloved. Einstein once quipped that gravity cannot be held responsible for people falling in love, which was of course twice funny, because most people never made the connection between spacetime curvature and a flexed bow — for more on Biblical Relativity Theory, see our article on the verb נהר (nahar), which means both to flow (what a river does) and to shine (what a star does).

The word Rabbi does not occur in the Old Testament, but the Rabbinical Period commenced when the Jews returned from their exile in Babylon and Persia, and spoke Aramaic rather than Hebrew (see our article on Damascus). In order to bridge the gap between the holy Scriptures and the people's common language, Ezra instituted explainers, who, over the centuries to follow, began to be known as Rabbis, from the noun רב (rab) plus the letter י (yod), which marks "pertaining to", and which either translates as an adjective ("great one") or a possessive form ("my great one"; compare names like Abdi, Abi, Ammi and so on), which is a construction not unlike the common German Mein Herr, which in turn translates into Hebrew as Adonai, or my Lord.

Our noun ραββι (rabbi) is used 17 times, see full concordance, possibly most notably in Matthew 23:8, where Jesus says: "You are not to be called Rabbi, for One is your καθηγητης (kathegetes), guide", which obviously emphasizes that people should emulate the Oneness that is God's most intimate character (see Ephesians 5:1 and compare Deuteronomy 6:4 to Romans 1:20, which leads to texts like Ephesians 4:4-6, Acts 1:14, Philippians 1:27, John 17:21-23, and so on) by allowing all voices to speak, rather than the one voice of some leader, who will accomplish only that the world will be formed in his own image.

From our noun derives:

The noun τοξον (toxon) means bow (as in bow and arrow). It's used only once in the New Testament, in Revelation 6:2, where it is listed as an attribute of the (first) White Horseman. In our article on the name Adam we explain that any particular character in the Bible does not necessarily need to correspond to one single individual in observable reality. In Biblical vernacular, one's crop might be eaten by the locust and one's city might have been sacked by the Assyrian, but that doesn't mean there was only one locust or one Assyrian. Likewise, the White Horseman should probably be regarded as a class, within which there are countless individuals, all white and riding horses and toting bows.

The bow was a long distance weapon, and was used in both offense and defense situations. Particularly watchers and guards on elevated positions would be equipped with bows. David lamented that Jonathan's bow did not return, and the sword of Saul did not return empty (2 Samuel 1:22). In the symbolic vernacular of the Bible, a person's word and his sword appear to have correlated (Revelation 19:15, Ephesians 6:17), and the edge of a sword was called its פה (peh) or "mouth". Likewise, the bow appears to have signified a man's allegiance with someone else, and the "return" of someone's bow had to do with his reply to an earlier message sent (1 Samuel 20:20, and see texts like Matthew 10:12 and Genesis 8:12). Archers could send death, fire and written messages over great distances and formidable obstacles. Even amidst hills, bowmen could send arrows in recognizable patterns, and were therefor also intelligence agents tasked with the communications between military units.

Quite crucially, God signified his most basic covenant by placing his bow in the clouds (Genesis 9:13, also see Lamentations 2:4) — and it must be emphasized that God could have chosen any symbol or natural phenomenon (or even, if the reader insists, could have given the rainbow the shape of a pretzel rather than a circle). But God went with the bow and used the same word for the rainbow as the bow (again, that could have gone different: the rainbow could have been called, say, color-wheel or Joseph's Varicolored Belt, or anything along those lines).

The bow comes with an element of communication and intelligence (Ephesians 6:16). The bow very deliberately marks bottled up reserves of attractive tension between separated parties. It extends the range of a man's defenses but also allows him to send messages far beyond the reach of a shouting voice, and to communicate with someone who is otherwise out of reach.

It's not clear where our word comes from. A relatively recent tradition associated with the work of James Strong (of Strong Concordance fame) appears to have taken our word to be a variant of τοκος (tokos), a thing brought forth, from the verb τικτω (tikto), to bring forth. That doesn't seem to be an unreasonable deduction, and would certainly work for any creative poet, but formally the two don't appear to be connected.

Robert Beeks (Etymology of Greek) acknowledged that our noun looks suspiciously similar to the Persian, and specifically the Scythian word for bow, namely toxaris, but deems an import impossible since our word was already attested in Mycenaean, long before the Persians showed up in Europe. This Mycenaean attestation, says Beeks, is to-ko-so-ta, which to us here at Abarim Publications immediately reminds of the Hebrew word for bow, namely קשת (qeshet) or archery: קשתא (qesheta). Mycenaean had no definite article, or else the first to- of our word would be readily explained, but the ko-so-ta-part may be explained from an import from the ever generous Phoenicians.

The noun κουστωδια (koustodia) describes the business of guarding, protecting or watching. It describes a security detail, a contingent of guards or watchers, or their mission of guarding, or the act of guarding or watching. It's used in the New Testament in Matthew 27:65, 27:66 and 28:11 only.

Our word is not even really Greek but Latin: custodia, a military term for soldiers serving as guards, or for some sort of installation that blocked access (or escape, in case of a prison), or even the idea of guarding or watching something. It's the source of the English word custody, and stems from the noun custos, meaning a guard or jailer or watcher. Where the word custos comes from is again a mystery, but here at Abarim Publications we suspect that — like the Greek word τοξον (toxon) we discuss above — its formation was helped along by the Hebrew word for bow, namely קשת (qeshet).

We further suspect that the word custodia originated as a term specifically denoting a defensive contingent of archers, or rather a class of wall-perched guards specifically equipped with bows — very much in the same way in which the κυριοι (kurioi), or lords, evolved out of the class of soldier specifically equipped with the spear, or curis. Like these spearmen, these bowmen were not simply brute fighters but rather also an integral part of the intelligence apparatus, crucial for strategy and communications between forts and troops afield (as we explain above). That may have caused them to be an elite, perhaps not as high up as the κυριοι (kurioi) but certainly worthy betas.

It even seems that in a curious military metaphor, the archers related to the spearmen the way the record keeping administrative class had related to the illiterate palatial rulers, prior to the Bronze Age Collapse. When that collapse transpired, the rulers simply disappeared and the administrative class, who had had their networks in place, simply rebooted the societies and created the polis culture of early iron age Greece.

The noun ραβδος (rabdos) means rod, scepter or staff (or wand). It's of unknown pedigree and possible pre-Greek, and here at Abarim Publications we privately suspect it may be an adaptation of the Aramaic noun רבד (rabad), which described a blob of fat on someone's clothes: a sure sign of abundance and rich dining, which in turn marked society's freemen (as opposed to its slaves and poor) and thus its governing elite. Rather similarly, the noun κυριος (kurios), or mister, literally means spear-carrier. The spear originally demonstrated one's actual manly prowess, but later in a ceremonial sense came to indicate one's formal authority. The words curia and curator come from this word κυριος (kurios), spear. The Aramaic noun רבד (rabad) was also spelled as רבב (rabab), and derived from the Aramaic equivalent of the aforementioned Hebrew verb רבב (rabab), to be much or many.

The Greek ραβδος (rabdos) came in various forms and had various functions, but in general was a sign of authority and wisdom, and marked a license to apprehend, beat and correct. In our modern cultures, this item has morphed into a king's scepter, a wizard's wand, and possible even a conductor's baton. In the Septuagint, the noun ραβδος (rabdos) translates the nouns משענת (mish'enet), staff (Exodus 21:19, Zechariah 8:4), שבט (shebet), rod (Exodus 21:20, Proverbs 10:13, Psalm 2:9, 45:6), and מטה (matteh), leverage (Genesis 38:18, Exodus 4:2, Psalm 110:2, Isaiah 9:4):

• The noun משענת (mish'enet), staff, comes from the verb שען (sha'an), to lean on or trust in. This staff was not only a device to lean on, it also probed the ground ahead to test it for walkable consistency and scare off any snakes that might be hiding in the grass. It was a signature attribute of watchful travelers and shepherds (Exodus 21:19, Zechariah 8:4) and reposing elders (Zechariah 8:4). In Psalm 23:4, David speaks how the Good Shepherd's rod (שבט, shebet, see next) and staff (משענת, mish'enet) comfort him. Figuratively, our word משענת (mish'enet) may denote the security and liquidity provided by rulers and law-givers (Numbers 21:18, Isaiah 36:6, Ezekiel 29:6) and prophets (2 Kings 4:29).
• The noun שבט (shebet), rod, comes from the verb שבט (shabat) to smite or beat. Farmers used such rods to beat their grains (Isaiah 28:27; see σιτος, sitos, grain) and to herd their cattle (Psalm 23:4). The latter use equates the שבט (shebet), rod, with a דרבן (dorban), goad (1 Samuel 13:21, Ecclesiastes 12:11), which in Greek is called κεντρον (kentron). This instrument signifies correction and coercion. The Aramaic equivalent of our word, namely שרביט (sharbit), came to denote the king's scepter (Esther 4:11, 5:2).
• The noun מטה (matteh), lever or leverage, comes from the verb נטה (nata), to leverage: to manipulate one's environment beyond one's natural powers, but at the price of attributes like range, accuracy, diversity, duration, and so on. This noun summarizes all forms of technology, including information technology (Psalm 110:2), and is hence strongly associated with the seat of power. Our noun's feminine version, namely מטה (mitta), means "bed", but mostly proverbially as the king's bed: the depositorial "seat" of government (Genesis 47:31, see Hebrews 11:21, Exodus 8:3, Song of Solomon 3:7). That makes the latter noun comparable to the Greek noun κοιτη (koite), marriage bed, or rather the place from which the house is governed and where the heirs are conceived.

Our noun ραβδος (rabdos), staff, rod or lever, is used 12 times, see full concordance, and from it derive: