Etymology

Sabian

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Today it means: A member of a group (mentioned in the Qur'an) that is entitled to Muslim religious toleration, along with Jews and Christians. The group's identity is unknown, but they are usually identified with the Mandaeans or the Elkesaites. Full definition →

Arabic الصَّابِئَة ← Hebrew צָבָא ← myz ࡑࡁࡀ
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The story

  1. myz · derived fromࡑࡁࡀ“baptizer”
  2. Hebrew · derived fromצָבָא“army, host”
  3. Arabic · derived fromالصَّابِئَة
  4. English todaySabian

From Arabic الصَّابِئَة (aṣ-ṣābiʔa), of uncertain origin. Possibly related to Hebrew צָבָא (ṣaḇa, “army, host”) or Classical Mandaic ࡑࡁࡀ (ṣba, “baptizer”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.