m: abboda, an; m. I. an abbot; abbās, -- the title of the male superior of certain religious establishments, thence called abbeys. The word abbot appears to have been, at first, applied to any member of the clerical order, just as the French Père and English Father. In the earliest age of monastic institutions the monks were not even priests: they were merely religious persons, who retired from the world to live in common, and the abbot was one of their number, whom they elected to preside over the association. In regard to general ecclesiastical discipline, all these communities were at this early time subject to the bishop of the diocese, and even to the pastor of the parochial district within the bounds of which they were established. At length it began to be usual for the abbot to be in orders; and since the sixth century monks generally have been priests. In point of dignity an abbot is generally next to a bishop. A minute account of the different descriptions of abbots may be found in Du Cange's Glossary, and in Carpentier's supplement to that work :-- Se árwurða abbad Albínus the reverend abbot Albinus, Bd. pref. Riht is ðæt abbodas fæste on mynstrum wunian it is right that abbots dwell closely in their minsters, L. I. P. 13; Th. ii. 320, 30. Her Forþréd abbud forþférde in this year abbot Forthred died, Chr. 803; Erl. 60, 13. Se abbot Saxulf the abbot Saxulf, Chr. 675; Ing. 50, 15. Swá gebireþ abbodan as becometh abbots, L. Const. W. p. 150, 27; L. I. P. 13; Th. ii. 320, 35. II. bishops were sometimes subject to an abbot, as they were to the abbots of Iona :-- Nú, sceal beón ǽfre on Ií abbod, and ná biscop; and ðan sculon beón underþeódde ealle Scotta biscopas, forðan ðe Columba [MS. Columban] was abbod, ná biscop now, in Ií [Iona] , there must ever be an abbot, not a bishop; and to him must all bishops of the Scots be subject, because Columba was an abbot, not a bishop, Chr. 565; Th. 32, 10-16, col. l. [Laym. abbed: O. Frs. abbete: N. Ger. abt: O. H. Ger. abbat: Lat. abbas; gen. abbātis an abbot: Goth. abba : Syr. HEBREW abba father, from Heb. HEBREW ab father, pl. HEBREW abot fathers.] DER. abbad-dóm, -hád, -isse, -ríce: abboda. abbad