Editing Abraxas (section)

== Etymology ==
[[Gaius Julius Hyginus]] ([[Gaius Julius Hyginus#Fabulae|''Fab''. 183]]) gives ''Abrax Aslo Therbeeo'' as names of horses of the sun mentioned by '[[Homer]]us'.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}} The passage is miserably corrupt, but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas.

The proper form of the name is evidently ''Abrasax'', as with the Greek writers, [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]], [[Didymus the Blind|Didymus]] (''De Trin''. iii. 42), and [[Theodoret]]; also [[Augustine]] and ''[[Praedestinatus]]''; and in nearly all the legends on gems. By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have ''Abraxas'', which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones.

The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful:

=== Egyptian ===
Chuvash linguists, the word was translated as [[Ouroboros]]
* [[Claudius Salmasius]] (1588–1653) thought it Egyptian, but never gave the proofs which he promised.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
*J. J. Bellermann thinks it is a compound of the [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] words ''{{Lang|egy|abrak}}'' and ''{{Lang|egy|sax}}'', meaning "the honorable and hallowed word", or "the word is adorable".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philip Schaff: New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. I: Aachen - Basilians - Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc01.html?term=abrasax |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=www.ccel.org}}</ref>
* [[Samuel Sharpe (scholar)|Samuel Sharpe]] finds in it an Egyptian invocation to the Godhead, meaning "hurt me not".<ref name="Sharpe_1870">{{cite book |last=Sharpe |first=Samuel |date= 1870 |title=The History of Egypt: From the Earliest Times Till the Conquest by the Arabs, A.D. 640, Volume 2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qw0GAAAAQAAJ&q=abraxas |location=London, United Kingdom |publisher=Bell & Daldy |page=172}}</ref>

=== Hebrew ===
* [[Abraham Geiger]] sees in it a Grecized form of ''{{Lang|he-latn|Ha-Brachah}}'', "The Blessing." [[Charles William King]] supports this gloss, citing a similar translation of the word ''[[abracadabra]]'' as ''{{Lang|he-latn|Ha-Brachah-dabarata}}'', "Pronounce the Blessing."{{sfn|King|1887|pp=251-252}}
*J. B. Passerius derives it from ''{{Lang|he-latn|abh}}'', "father", ''{{Lang|he-latn|bara}}'', "to create", and ''{{Lang|he-latn|a-}}'' negative—"the uncreated Father".{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
*Giuseppe Barzilai goes back for explanation to the first verse of the prayer attributed to [[Nehunya ben HaKanah]], the literal rendering of which is "O [God], with thy mighty right hand deliver the unhappy [people]", forming from the initial and final letters of the words the word ''Abrakd'' (pronounced Abrakad), with the meaning "the host of the winged ones", i.e., angels. While this theory can explain the mystic word ''Abracadabra'', the association of this phrase with Abraxas is uncertain.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

=== Greek ===
* Wendelin discovers a compound of the initial letters, amounting to 365 in numerical value, of four Hebrew and three Greek words, all written with Greek characters: {{Transliteration|grc|ab, ben, rouach, hakadōs; sōtēria apo xylou}} ("Father, Son, Spirit, holy; salvation from the cross").<ref name="Funk and Wagnalls Company">{{Cite book |last1=Herzog |first1=Johann Jakob |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qxEMAAAAIAAJ |title=The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: Embracing Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology and Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Biography from the Earliest Times to the Present Day |last2=Hauck |first2=Albert |last3=Jackson |first3=Samuel Macauley |last4=Sherman |first4=Charles Colebrook |last5=Gilmore |first5=George William |date=1908 |publisher=Funk and Wagnalls Company |pages=17 |language=en}}</ref>
*According to a note of Isaac de Beausobre's, [[Jean Hardouin]] accepted the first three of these, taking the four others for the initials of the Greek ''{{Lang|grc-latn|anthrōpoussōzōn hagiōi xylōi}}'', "saving mankind by the holy cross".<ref name="Funk and Wagnalls Company"/>
* [[Isaac de Beausobre]] derives Abraxas from the Greek ''{{Lang|grc-latn|habros}}'' and ''{{Lang|grc-latn|saō}}'', "the beautiful, the glorious Savior".<ref name="Funk and Wagnalls Company"/>

Perhaps the word may be included among those mysterious expressions discussed by [[Adolf von Harnack]],{{sfn|Harnack|1891|pp=86–89}} "which belong to no known speech, and by their singular collocation of vowels and consonants give evidence that they belong to some mystic dialect, or take their origin from some supposed divine inspiration".

The Egyptian author of the book ''[[De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum|De Mysteriis]]'' in reply to [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] (vii. 4) admits a preference of 'barbarous' to vernacular names in sacred things, urging a peculiar sanctity in the languages of certain nations, as the Egyptians and [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]]; and Origen (''Contra Cels''. i. 24) refers to the 'potent names' used by Egyptian sages, [[Persia]]n [[Magi]], and Indian [[Brahmin]]s, signifying deities in the several languages.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}