Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AB'BA, n.

In the Chaldee and Syriac, a father, and figuratively a superior. Sans. appen. In the Syriac, Coptic and Ethiopic churches, it is a title given to the bishops, and the bishops bestow the title by way of distinction, on the bishop of Alexandria. Hence the title Baba, or Papa, Pope or great father, which the bishop of Alexandria bore, before the bishop of Rome.