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(Heb. Abel'-, àָáֵìàּ , a name of several villages in Palestine, with additions in the case of the more important, to distinguish them from one another (see each in its alphabetical order). From a comparison of the Arabic and Syriac, it appears to mean fresh grass; and the places so named may be conceived to have been in peculiarly verdant situations (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 14; see, however, other significations in Lengerke, Kenaan, 1:358; Hengstenberg, Pentat. 2, 261). SEE ABILA.
In 1Sa_6:18, it is used as an appellative, and probably signifies a grassy plain. In this passage, however, perhaps we should read (as in the margin) àֶáֶï , stone, instead of àָáֵì , Abel, or meadow, as the context (verses 14, 15) requires, and the Sept. and Syriac versions explain; the awkward insertion of our translators, “the great [stone of] Abel,” would thus be unnecessary.
In 2Sa_20:14; 2Sa_20:18, ABEL SEE ABEL stands alone for ABELBETH-MAACHAH SEE ABELBETH-MAACHAH (q. V.).