Taylor entitles his edition _Dibre Aboth ha-Olam_, Sayings of the
Fathers of the World_, and has as the English title, _Sayings of the
Jewish Fathers_. Gustav Gottheil refers to the _Abot_ as the _Sayings
of the Pharisaic Fathers_ (3). Its German title is generally _Die
Spruche der Vater_, and in French it is usually rendered _Chapitres_
or _Maximes des Peres_.

(1) See _infra_, [Chapter V], n. 61.

(2) _Baba Kamma_, 30a. See Taylor, _Sayings of the Jewish
Fathers_, p. 3. Maimonides refers to this saying in the
_Foreword_ of his _Eight Chapters_; see Gorfinkle, _The Eight
Chapters_, etc., p. 34.

(3) See _Sun and Shield_, p. 321 _et passim_. See _infra_, n.
8, which accounts for the use of "_Pharisaic_."

The use of the word _Abot_ (fathers), in the title, is of very ancient
date. We can only guess at the reason for its being used, and,
consequently, there are various explanations for it. Samuel de Uceda,
in his collective commentary, says that as this tractate of the
_Mishnah_ contains the advice and good counsel, which, for the most
part, come from a father, the Rabbis mentioned in it adopt the role of
"fathers," and are therefore so designated. This explanation does
not, however, deter him from advancing another to the effect that this
treatise is the basis of all subsequent ethical and moral teachings
and doctrines, and the Rabbis are, in consequence, the "fathers" or
prototypes of all ethical teachers and moralists (4). Loeb attributes
its use to the fact that the Rabbis of _Abot_ are the "fathers" or
"ancestors of Rabbinic Judaism" (5). Hoffman states that the word