_abot_ means "teachers of tradition" (_Traditionslehrer_), and points
to the expression _abot ha-olam_ (_Eduyot_, I. 4), which, translated
literally, is "fathers of the world," but is used to designate the
most distinguished teachers, which is a true characterization of the
Rabbis of _Abot_ (6). Taylor says in regard to the title, "It takes
its name from the fact that it consists to a great extent of the
maxims of the Jewish Fathers whose names are mentioned in the pages"
(7). Hoffmann's seems the most acceptable explanation.

(4) _Midrash Shemuel_ (ed. Warsaw, 1876), p. 6. The _Midrash
Shemuel_ is a collective commentary, first published in Venice
in 1579, and which has since passed through six editions. See
p. 22, n. 21.

(5) _La Chaine_, etc., p. 307, n. 1.

(6) See Hoffman, _Seder Nesikin, Introd._, p. xx, and p. 258,
n. 36. In this passage of _Eduyot_, Hillel and Shammai are
referred to as _abot ha-olam_; in _Yerushalmi Shekalim_, III,
47b, Rabbi and Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba, and in _Yerushalmi
Chagigah_, II, 77d, all the pairs of _Abot_ I are similarly
designated.

(7) Taylor, _loc. cit._




PURPOSE