מכבי

Not conclusively known. The name, which was a personal epithet of Judas Maccabeus and not an inherited surname, may derive from the Aramaic [script needed] (makkaba, “hammer”), in reference to Judas’s ferocity in battle. Conversely, the traditional Jewish explanation is that מַכַּבִּי (makkabbī) is an acronym both of מִי־כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה‎ (Mi chamocha ba’elim YHWH, “Who is like You among the heavenly powers, Hashem!”) — the Torah’s Exodus 15:11, which was the Maccabees’ battle-cry — and of מַתִּתְיָהוּ בֶּן יוֹחָנָן הַכֹּהֵן‎ (Matityahu ben Yoḥanan HaKohen, “Mattathias”). Yet another possibility is that the name is a corruption of [Term?] (“Machbanai”).

מַכַּבִּי • (makabí) m (plural indefinite מַכַּבִּים‎)

1. (biblical) a Maccabee

• Ancient Greek: Μᾰκκᾰβαῖος (Makkabaîos)
  • Latin: Maccabaeus
    • English: Maccabee