rabbin (French)

Where does "rabbin" come from?

French 'rabbin', meaning rabbi, entered the language through Ecclesiastical Latin 'rabbinus'[1]. That Latin word was borrowed from Koine Greek 'rhabbí'[1], which one source traces to Aramaic 'rabbi', meaning 'rabbi, spiritual teacher'[2]. Behind it lies the post-biblical Hebrew title 'rabbī', meaning 'my master'[1], formed from 'rav' ('master') and the possessive ending '-i' ('my')[3].

Open questions

• One source links the Greek form directly to post-biblical Hebrew, while another says it comes from Aramaic, so the exact route from Semitic into Greek is not settled by the data. [1] [2]

Full etymology tree

• rabbin (French), 'rabbi'
  • borrowed rabbinus (Ecclesiastical Latin)
    • borrowed ῥαββί (rhabbí) (Ancient Greek), 'O my Master'

Ancestors

• ῥαββί (Ancient Greek)

Descendants and derived words

• rabbinat (French)
• rabbinique (French)

Related words

• culte (French)

Sources

1. rabbin (French) - Wiktionary
2. ῥαββί (rhabbí) (Ancient Greek) - Wiktionary
3. רבי (Hebrew) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris