Etymology of the Abishai Devil [Archive] - Wizards Community

Etymology of the Abishai Devil [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Ebaine Vulkarn
01-01-06, 05:28 AM This has always intrigued me, and if anyone knows for sure, I would truly appreciate if he could verify or correct my theory:
King David of biblical fame had three kinsmen, the children of a woman called Zeruiah. Those children were Asael, Joab and Abishai. They were all loyal to David and served under him as generals.
What does this have to do with the Abishai Devil, you ask? Well, they were notorious for being hot-headed, tenacious, and especially vindictive. Of Abishai David said "what is there between me and you, sons of Zeruiah, for you to be my enemies today? [...]" (Samuel 2 19:22), but the most direct translation of the word "enemies" as it appears in this context would be "satans", as the word that is used in the Hebrew bible is "Satan".
Is this right on-spot?
Ogre4Hire
01-01-06, 12:24 PM Try looking under the heading "Not even Close."

While there are plenty of names that are duped from various religious referances, they aren't related to anything in the real world.
SinisterSeraph
01-01-06, 07:18 PM Yeah. The name is prolly coincidental. At most the designer was prolly flipping through a list of historical and mythological names and said "Abishai, that sounds cool."
Perun
01-02-06, 02:33 AM I might be waaaaay of here, but I seem to recall the abishai were originally from the Dragonlance campaign setting. The main evil outer plane in DL is Abyss, although it isn't/wasn't the standard (A)D&D CE Abyss -- it was the realm/domain of the main DL power of evil, Takhisis, who is (or was), in fact, lawful evil. Takhisis was the Chromatic Dragon (think Tiamat, only a greater deity) in DL, and abishai were her servants. I *think* it might be that hey were named after the DL Abyss.

But, like I said, I can't think of a single reference to back me up on this, and I might be totally wrong here. So, take it with a grain of salt.

regards.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ebaine Vulkarn 01-01-06, 05:28 AM	This has always intrigued me, and if anyone knows for sure, I would truly appreciate if he could verify or correct my theory: King David of biblical fame had three kinsmen, the children of a woman called Zeruiah. Those children were Asael, Joab and Abishai. They were all loyal to David and served under him as generals. What does this have to do with the Abishai Devil, you ask? Well, they were notorious for being hot-headed, tenacious, and especially vindictive. Of Abishai David said "what is there between me and you, sons of Zeruiah, for you to be my enemies today? [...]" (Samuel 2 19:22), but the most direct translation of the word "enemies" as it appears in this context would be "satans", as the word that is used in the Hebrew bible is "Satan". Is this right on-spot?
Ogre4Hire 01-01-06, 12:24 PM	Try looking under the heading "Not even Close." While there are plenty of names that are duped from various religious referances, they aren't related to anything in the real world.
SinisterSeraph 01-01-06, 07:18 PM	Yeah. The name is prolly coincidental. At most the designer was prolly flipping through a list of historical and mythological names and said "Abishai, that sounds cool."
Perun 01-02-06, 02:33 AM	I might be waaaaay of here, but I seem to recall the abishai were originally from the Dragonlance campaign setting. The main evil outer plane in DL is Abyss, although it isn't/wasn't the standard (A)D&D CE Abyss -- it was the realm/domain of the main DL power of evil, Takhisis, who is (or was), in fact, lawful evil. Takhisis was the Chromatic Dragon (think Tiamat, only a greater deity) in DL, and abishai were her servants. I think it might be that hey were named after the DL Abyss. But, like I said, I can't think of a single reference to back me up on this, and I might be totally wrong here. So, take it with a grain of salt. regards.