WHAT DOES “RABBI” MEAN IN HEBREW?
Article by Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg
The term רַבִּי (rabbi) which is usually understood to mean “my teacher” literally means a person of authority, importance, abundance and even greatness. In other words רַבִּי (rabbi) is a person who has much to give as a person of substance.
THE LINGUISTIC ORIGIN OF THE WORD
רַבִּי (Rabbi) comes from Hebrew word רַב (rav) which means “much, many, numerous or great” and letter yod (י) on the end is a suffix of possession “my”. So we can literally translate רַבִּי (Rabbi) as “my great one”
A DEEPER LOOK AT THE BIBLICAL STORIES
Oftentimes רַב (rav) is a measure and has to do with numerical quantity or length. In the Torah the cloud of God’s presence stood over the tabernacle for יָמִים רַבִּים (yomim rabim) “many days” (Num 19:19). At other times word רַב (rav) signifies authority. In ancient Hebrew רַב בַּיִת (rav bayt) was used for head servant and רַב הַחֹבֵל (rav hachovel) for captain of a ship. King Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel and made him in Aramaic a רַבִּי (rabbi) “ruler, officer or chief” in Dan 2:28.
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