The Latin word “ab” — the very first entry in many Latin dictionaries — simply means “from” or “away from.” It speaks of origin, source, departure, and remote beginning. This little preposition traces back through Greek apo to the Hebrew מין min and ultimately to אב ‘av’ (Father) — the Source of all things. In the Latin Vulgate, “ab” first appears in Genesis 1:6 where God divides the waters from the waters. Everything comes from the Father, through the waters of creation, and ultimately from Christ, who is the true Source, the Living Waters, and the One who came from eternity to bring us back to the Father. He is the Origin, the Fountain, and the Way “from” whom all life flows.
Whitaker’s Latin Dictionary
Ab
PREP – ABL –
by (agent), from (departure, cause, remote origin (time); after (reference);
The most common translation of this word is ‘from’ or ‘away from.’
The obscure English word ‘ab’ derives directly from this Latin word.
‘Ab’ traces back to the Greek ‘apo.’
The Latin word ‘ab’ which ultimately means ‘from the source’ comes from the Hebrew word מין ‘min’ and then traces back and links to the Hebrew word אב ‘ab’ which means ‘Father’ who is the source of all.
The first use of ‘ab’ in the Latin Vulgate is found in Genesis 1:6.
Gen 1:6 dixit quoque Deus fiat firmamentum in medio aquarum et dividat aquas ab aquis
Gen 1:6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
It is interesting that this word is first used in reference to the dividing of the waters as the Latin word ‘ab’ traces back to water.
‘Ab’ means water in Arabic and the Latin prefix ‘ab’ is used for liquids. However, the most significant connection to water is seen in the Hebrew letter מ ‘mem.’
The Letter Mem
The Hebrew letter מ ‘mem’ is related to the Latin word ab as it is a preposition with very similar meaning. It means to comes from or originate from something.
The letter מ ‘mem’ is a picture of waters. In Ancient Hebrew the letter looked something like this:
Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible pg 27
In the beginning all things came forth from or originated from water.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;
Gen 1:2 and the earth being without form and empty, and darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moving gently on the face of the waters,
Gen 1:3 then God said, Let light be! And there was light.
The letter Mem is also connected to the womb (place of origin).
The numerical value of Mem is 40 which is connected to water (the Flood 40 days and nights of water) and the womb, as an average human pregnancy takes about 40 weeks and it is believed that it takes 40 days from conception to the initial ‘formation’ of the fetus. The salinity of sea water is also the same as the ‘waters’ of the womb. The rebirth is also linked to 40 as Messiah Jesus was baptized in the Jordan by John after 40 days of temptation in the wilderness.
A Womb and a Tomb
Mem is already associated with water and cleansing, but the depth of symbolism goes even further. In both Jewish and Christian understanding, immersion/baptism is a place of death and rebirth. Our old self dies, and our we are born again, clean and renewed. As if this simple symbolism were not enough, the letter Mem literally illustrates this concept.
There are two forms of the letter Mem, one used at the beginning or middle of words (open), and one only used to end a word (closed). This concept of the letter Mem being a picture of the womb, reveals an important mystery of the Messiah being born from a virgin (closed womb/mem).
Isa 7:14 So, The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold! The virgin will conceive and will bring forth a son; and she shall call His name Immanuel.
Isa 9:6 For a Child is born; to us a Son is given; and the government is on His shoulder; and His name is called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7 There is no end to the increase of His government and of peace on the throne of David, and on His kingdom, to order it, and to sustain it with justice and with righteousness, from now and forever. The zeal of Jehovah of Hosts will do this.
In the Hebrew text an amazing mystery is revealed showing that the Prince of peace will come from the closed womb. The closed mem should only occur at the end of a word, but in the text it occurs in the middle. This is the only time in Scripture that this happens.
In Genesis 8, Noah sends forth a dove to when the waters had subsided enough for the earth to be seen. This too, is a symbol of rebirth. All throughout Scripture, the number 3 is associated with resurrection as can be seen in the Book of Jonah and the resurrection of Messiah for examples. On the third day, the earth came forth out of the waters and brought forth life.
Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be collected to one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so.
Gen 1:10 And God called the dry land, Earth. And He called the collection of the waters, Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth sprout tender sprouts, the plant seeding seed, the fruit tree producing fruit according to its kind, whichever seed is in it on the earth. And it was so.
Gen 1:12 And the earth bore tender sprouts, the plant seeding seed according to its kind, and the fruit tree producing fruit according to its kind, whichever seed is in it. And God saw that it was good.
Gen 1:13 And there was evening, and there was morning the third day.
The Spirit is linked with rebirth
1Pe 3:18 Because even Christ once suffered concerning sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God; indeed being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of the One having raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One having raised the Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies live through the indwelling of His Spirit in you.
Born Again from Above by the Spirit/Word
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Tit 3:5 He saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His compassion, through the washing of rebirth, and renewal by the Set-apart Spirit,
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
1Jo 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Jam 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Jas 1:21 On account of this, putting away all filthiness and overflowing of evil, in meekness receive the implanted Word being able to save your souls.
Jonah’s name, who was ‘resurrected’ after 3 days and nights in the belly of the fish, means a dove. Again the link between the Spirit and rebirth.
H3124
yônâh
BDB Definition:
Jonah = “dove” יונה
The imagery of the dove in connection with the waters and origin/birth/rebirth is seen in Genesis 1
Gen 1:2 and the earth being without form and empty, and darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moving gently on the face of the waters,
‘The Spirit of God hovered over/moving over the waters’
The word translated as hovered comes from the following:
Here we see imagery of a bird hovering over its nest. The Lord is described in this same imagery.
Deu 32:10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste, a howling wilderness. He encircled him and cared for him; He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
Mat 23:37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing the prophets and stoning those sent to her. How often I desired to gather your children in the way a bird gathers her chicks under her wings! And you did not desire it.A replay of this was seen when the virgin Mary conceived and brought forth the Messiah…the Light of the world. The Spirit hovered over her ‘waters/womb’, the Seed (the Word) was implanted and she brought forth the Tree of Life.
Luk 1:35 And answering, the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for this reason that Holy One being born of you will be called Son of God.
Psa 139:13 For You have possessed my inward parts; You wove me in the womb of my mother.
Psa 139:14 I will thank You, for with awesome ways I am distinguished; Your works are marvelous, and my soul knows it very well.
Psa 139:15 My bones were not hidden from You when I was made in secret; when I was woven in the depths of the earth.
Yet again the dove is seen in connection with the ‘rebirth’
Mat 3:16 And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water. And, behold! The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove, and coming upon Him.
Messiah comes from (ab) eternity
Mic 5:2 et tu Bethleem Ephrata parvulus es in milibus Iuda ex te mihi egredietur qui sit dominator in Israhel et egressus eius ab initio a diebus aeternitatis
Mic 5:2 And you, Bethlehem Ephratah, being least among the thousands of Judah, out of you He shall come forth to Me to become One ruling in Israel; and His goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.
In Micah 5:2 the link between ‘ab’ and the letter Mem is seen again as the Hebrew phrase מימי עולם ‘memay olam’ ‘from days of eternity’ where the prefix ‘mem’ is translated as ‘ab’ into the Vulgate.
Another interesting connection is seen here in that ‘eternity’ is from the Hebrew world עולם ‘olam’ which means beyond the horizon in ancient Hebrew thought. What was beyond the horizon? The sea. This is where the sun sets in the West. Hence, ‘from eternity’ is linked to the original waters of creation before anything came into being. As seen above in Whitaker’s definition, ‘ab’ has the meaning of a ‘remote origin’ as in ‘time.’
Jesus is the Living Waters (the source of all things)
Isa 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation {H3444}; I will trust, and not be afraid: for Jah Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation {H3444}.
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation {H3444}.
H3444 ישׁוּעה yeshû‛âh
salvation, deliverance
Jer 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
Jer 17:13 O LORD, the hope {H4723 mikveh=collection of water/pool…baptism***} of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth (John 8), because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
***Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Those who have been baptized into Messiah have become a type of firstfruits of His creatures. As seen in the study on אביב (aviv), the firstfruits come forth from the source* (origin) of all.
*Interestingly, the etymology of the English word ‘source’ comes from the French ‘sourse’ which means a fountainhead of a stream or river. Again the connection to the waters at the beginning.
אביב comes from the root אב (Father). Aviv is referring to the next generation of the crop which came from the parent. Aviv points to the Messiah who came forth from the Father (John 8:42; 16:28) and His body that comes forth from Him (John 17:18; 20:21).
Another connection between ‘ab’ (Latin) and ‘ab’ (Hebrew) is the letter Mem in the Aramaic square script. The letter Mem is formed by combining the letter כ (kaf) and ו (vav).
Kaf is the picture of a hand. Vav is a picture of a nail. A nail in the hand. This connects to the name Yahweh even further:
As seen above, the English word ‘source’ derives from the picture of a fountainhead of a stream or river. This links to the Hebrew word ‘maqor’ which is pictured by a hole in the hand.
Psa 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
H4726
מקר / מקור
mâqôr
BDB Definition:
1) spring, fountain
Notice the connection between the word for fountain and giving birth. Out of the side of Messiah came forth water and blood to give birth to His Bride.
This again links back to מין ‘min’/Lat. ‘ab.’ מין ‘min’ derives from the Hebrew root מן ‘man’ which has the meaning of continuation through the blood/DNA of a parent.
מין ‘Min’ comes from the following root:
Notice that this word traces back to the blood/kind that is inherited from the father (אב ‘av’).
The English word ‘from’ comes from the Gothic ‘fram’ which corresponds to the Proto-Indo-European ‘pr’ which traces back to the Greek word ‘pro.’ ‘Pro’ means ‘before, forward, in place of’ which again traces back to the Hebrew word ‘min.’
Messiah came from the Father
Joh 8:42 Then Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I went forth and have come from God. For I have not come from Myself, but that One sent Me.
Joh 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father has given all things into His hands, and that He came out from God, and goes away to God,
Joh 16:27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God.
From Heaven
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread out of Heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread out of Heaven.
Joh 6:33 For the bread of God is He coming down out of Heaven and giving life to the world.
Joh 6:34 Then they said to Him, Lord, always give us this bread.
Joh 6:35 Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of life; the one coming to Me will not at all hunger, and the one believing into Me will not thirst, never!
Joh 6:42 And they said, Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph, of whom we know the father and the mother? How does this One now say, I have come down out of Heaven?
All things come forth FROM Messiah
Col 1:16 For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible; whether thrones, or lordships, or rulers, or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him.
Col 1:17 And He is before all things, and all things have subsisted in Him
Little Guy in the Eye 