Abba, a Syrian word equivalent to 'father', which, being applied in the Eastern Church to monks, superiors of monks, and other ecclesiastics, gave rise to the word abbot. In the Syriac and Coptic Churches it is given to bishops.
Abbadie (a˙b-a˙-dē), Antoine Thomson and Arnaud Michel d', French travellers, born in Dublin in 1810 and 1815 respectively. They lived for years in Abyssinia, and published valuable works on that country: Arnaud, Douze Ans dans la Haute-Éthiopie; Antoine, Géodésie de la Haute-Éthiopie, &c. Arnaud died in 1893, Antoine in 1897.
Abbas I, the Great, Shah or King of Persia, born in 1557, ascended the throne in 1586, at a time when the Turks and hordes of Usbek Tartars had made great encroachments on the country. Having defeated the Usbeks, recovered the provinces overrun by them, and reduced a great part of Afghanistan, he made war against the Turks, and in 1605 defeated them near Bussorah, thus getting back all the lost provinces. He extended his rule beyond Persia proper, and at his death in 1628 his dominions stretched from the Tigris to the Indus. He is looked upon by the Persians as their greatest sovereign.
Abbas II, Hilmi, ex-Khedive of Egypt, was born in 1874. He is the eldest son of Tewfik Pasha, and succeeded his father in 1892. During his reign he adopted an unfriendly attitude towards England, but he failed in his attempt to form an anti-British Cabinet in 1893. On 19th Dec., 1914, the British Government issued a proclamation deposing Abbas Hilmi and conferring the title of Sultan of Egypt upon Hussein Kamil, eldest living prince of the family of Mohammed Ali-Hussein Kamil, who died in 1917. See Egypt.
Abbas Mirza, a Persian prince and soldier, was the son of the shah Feth Ali; born 1783, died 1833; he greatly distinguished himself in the wars against Russia.
Abbasids, or Abbassides (ab′as-sidz), the name of the second Arabian dynasty which supplanted the Ommiades. It traced its descent from Abbas (born 566, died 652), uncle of Mahomet, and gave thirty-seven caliphs to Bagdad between 749 and 1258. Harun al Rashid was a member of this dynasty. See Caliphs.
Abbate (a˙b-bä′tā), the Italian term corresponding to Abbé.
Abbé (a˙b-ā), a French word for abbot, or for anyone regularly wearing the clerical dress. Before the Revolution, all who had studied theology, either with the view of becoming ordained clergymen or merely of obtaining some ecclesiastical appointment or benefice, were generally so designated. Marked out by their special dress, a short, violet-coloured robe, they were seen everywhere—at court, the ball, the theatre, and in private families, where they acted sometimes as tutors and sometimes as confidential advisers. Others, again, adopted the literary profession or became teachers in the higher educational establishments.
Abbe, Cleveland, American meteorologist and astronomer, born at New York in 1838, and educated at Harvard. He held various positions in connection with observatories and other institutions in America, and was for some time chief meteorologist in the United States Weather Bureau. He wrote much on meteorology and kindred subjects. He died in 1916. His works include: The Mechanics of the Earth's Atmosphere; Relations between Climates and Crops, &c.
Abbeoku′ta, a town of West Africa, in the Lagos Province of S. Nigeria, on the Ogun River, and on the railway from Lagos to N. Nigeria, 45 miles north of Lagos, consists chiefly of mud houses, surrounded by a mud wall. Pop. 50,000 to 100,000.