Abigail

Abigail (אֲבִיגַיִל / אֲבִיגָיִל "her Father's joy or, fountain of joy" ;leader of/is dance/, Standard Hebrew Avigáyil, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĂḇîḡáyil / ʾĂḇîḡāyil), once Abigal (2 Samuel 3:3), is a female Bible character. She is described as the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, whose life she saves when David wishes to kill him. On his death she became the 3rd wife of David (1 Samuel 25). By her David had a son, whose name appears in the Hebrew of 2 Samuel 3:3 as Chileab, in the Septuagint as Daluyah, and in 1 Chronicles 3:1 as Daniel.

The name Abigail was also borne by a sister of David (2 Samuel 17:25; 1 Chronicles 2:16 and following). From the former (self-styled handmaid 1 Samuel 25:25 and following) is derived the colloquial use of the term for a waiting-woman (cf. Abigail, the waiting gentlewoman, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady).

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.