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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
Greek •
Bible •
Names •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Sabbath
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Sabbath 
Sabbath is the name of the last day of the week (Exodus 20:8). The Oxford Companion to the Bible notes that only this day is named while the rest of the days of the week are only numbered.
HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament reports that it's not clear whether the word (shabbat) was derived from the verb (shabat), meaning to cease, rest, or vice versa. But the verb only means to repose when it's used in connection to the Sabbath. In all other contexts it means to sever ot put an end to (Genesis 8:22, Jeremiah 31:36). The derivative (shebbet) means cessation (Isaiah 30:7) and  (mishbat) also means cessation (Lamentations 1:7). The verb (shabat) means to keep the Sabbath (Leviticus 25:2). The noun  (shabbaton) denotes a sabbatical observance and is used in relation to keeping the Sabbath, the day of atonement (Leviticus 16:31), feast of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24) and the first and eighth day of the feast of booths (Leviticus 23:39).
The invention of the Sabbath, which marks the week, is a bit of a mystery. All other units of time, from year to month to day, even hours, have their roots in the celestial cycles but the week doesn't. Some scholars have tried to tie the Hebrew Sabbath to markant days in other cultures but no theory entirely satisfies. The week seems to be a Hebrew invention, and we have no idea why they did it or why it became such a hit all over the world.
It should also be noted that although the Sabbath (the Rest) is celebrated on one specific day of the week, it really says something about the week as a whole. The word sabbath indicates where one week turns into the next and the Oxford Companion's note that the Sabbath is the only day that is named may be explained by the idea that any collection is defined by its borders. After all, we comfortably speak of "the end of the road," but never about "one step before the end of the road." The "end of the road" says something about the whole road, and very little about the actual location where the road stops.
For some complicated Abarim Publication's theorizing on where the week might have come from, see our Introduction to Scripture Theory or our study on Genesis 1.
The name Sabbath means Rest, Severance or Cessation.
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