Editing Abimelech (section)

==Etymology==
The name or title ''Abimelech'' is formed from Canaanite words for "father" and "king," and may be interpreted in a variety of ways, including "Father-King", "My father is king," or "Father of a king."<ref name="Bluedorn2001">{{cite book|author=Wolfgang Bluedorn |title=Yahweh Versus Baalism: A Theological Reading of the Gideon-Abimelech Narrative|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jx7KrAnNOoC&pg=PA192 |date=19 December 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-84127-200-9|page=192}}</ref> In the Pentateuch, it is used as a title for kings in the land of Canaan.<ref name="Bluedorn2001b">{{cite book|author=Wolfgang Bluedorn|title=Yahweh Versus Baalism: A Theological Reading of the Gideon-Abimelech Narrative|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jx7KrAnNOoC&pg=PA192|date=19 December 2001|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-84127-200-9|page=191}}</ref>

Abimelech can be translated in Arabic as well into "My father is king", "My father is owner" or "Father of a king," where {{Lang|ar-latn|Abi|italic=no}} ({{Langx|ar|أبي}}) means father or my father while {{Lang|ar-latn|malek|italic=no}} ({{Langx|ar|ملك}}) means king or {{Lang|ar-latn|mālek|italic=no}} ({{Langx|ar|مالك}}) for owner.

At the time of the [[Amarna tablets]] (mid-14th century BC), there was an Egyptian governor of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] similarly named [[Abimilki]], {{citation needed span|who is sometimes speculated to be connected with one or more of the biblical Abimelechs.|date=December 2021}}