


Abraham Geiger sees in it a Grecized form of ha-berakhah, "the blessing", a meaning which Charles William King declares philologically untenable.Samuel Sharpe finds in it an Egyptian invocation to the Godhead, meaning "hurt me not".Bellermann thinks it is a compound of the Egyptian words abrak and sax, meaning "the honorable and hallowed word", or "the word is adorable". Claudius Salmasius (1588-1653) thought it Egyptian, but never gave the proofs which he promised.The attempts to discover a derivation for the name, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, or other, have not been entirely successful: By a probably euphonic inversion the translator of Irenaeus and the other Latin authors have Abraxas, which is found in the magical papyri, and even, though most sparingly, on engraved stones. 42), and Theodoret also Augustine and Praedestinatus and in nearly all the legends on gems.

The proper form of the name is evidently Abrasax, as with the Greek writers, Hippolytus, Epiphanius, Didymus ( De Trin. The passage is miserably corrupt: but it may not be accidental that the first three syllables make Abraxas. 183) gives Abrax Aslo Therbeeo as names of horses of the sun mentioned by ' Homerus'. Speculations have proliferated on Abraxas in recent centuries, who has been claimed to be both an Egyptian god and a demon. There are similarities and differences between such figures in reports about Basilides's teaching, ancient Gnostic texts, the larger Greco-Roman magical traditions, and modern magical and esoteric writings. The word may be related to Abracadabra, although other explanations exist. The seven letters spelling its name may represent each of the seven classic planets.

As the initial spelling on stones was Abrasax ( Αβρασαξ), the spelling of Abraxas seen today probably originates in the confusion made between the Greek letters sigma (Σ) and xi (Ξ) in the Latin transliteration. It was engraved on certain antique gemstones, called on that account Abraxas stones, which were used as amulets or charms. The word is found in Gnostic texts such as the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, and also appears in the Greek Magical Papyri. Abraxas ( Biblical Greek: ἀβραξάς, romanized: abraxas, variant form ἀβρασάξ romanized: abrasax) is a word of mystic meaning in the system of the Gnostic Basilides, being there applied to the "Great Archon" ( megas archōn), the princeps of the 365 spheres ( ouranoi).
