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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
Greek •
Bible •
Names •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Barsabbas
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Barsabbas 
There are two men named Barsabbas in the New Testament: Joseph Barsabbas, also known as Justus, who, together with Mattias, was a candidate to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:23). The other Barsabbas is Judas Barsabbas, who, together with Silas, joined Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 15:22).
The name Barsabbas consists of two elements:
Hence the name Barabbas means Son Of Sabbas, but where the sabbas-part comes from is not clear at all, apart from that it is most probably Semitic. If the Greek sabbas is a transliteration of something Aramaic or Hebrew, it may be the name Saba. although the name Saba doesn't occur in the Old Testament, Spiros Zodhiates (The Complete Wordstudy Dictionary) says it existed, and came from the verb (saba), meaning to fight.
One derivative of this verb is the noun (saba), meaning war or army. Another is the familiar appellation (sebaot), meaning armies or hosts (as in Lord of Hosts). Zodhiates' proposal is perfectly plausible, since Old Testamentic names that start with the Hebrew letter tsadhe (such as Zibiah, Ziha or Zur) are transliterated in the Septuagynt with the Greek letter sigma.
And that would render the name Barsabbas the meaning of Man Of War.
Other scholars have suggested relations with words such as (seba), meaning to imbibe or as a noun, drunkard (see the name Seba). That would give the name Barsabbas the meaning of Son Of A Drunk.
Another possibility is that Barsabbas comes from the word (sheba), meaning seven, or the similar (shaba), meaning to swear or promise solemnly (see the names Elizabeth and Elisheba). That would let Barsabbas translate to Son Of An Oath, and would marvelously compliment the feminine name Bathsheba, meaning Daughter Of An Oath.
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