Origin of the word: ABBOT/ABBESS

Abbot /masculine noun, plural: abbots/ (English): before 900

Abbess /feminine noun, plural: abbesses/ (English): 1275-1325

> In another languages:

• Abad (m)/Abadesa (f) (Español)
• Abade (m)/Abadessa (f) (Português)
• Abt (m)/Äbtissin (f) (Deutsch)
• Abbé (m)/Abbesse (f) (Français)
• Abate (m)/Badessa (f)(Italiano)

> From:

Abbot:

• Old English abbod:  abbot.
• Lat. abbas, abbātis: abbot, (religious) father.
• Gr. ἀββᾶ (‘a·bba), ἀββᾶς (‘a·bbas): abbot, (religious) father.
• Syriac ܐܒܐ (‘a.bā): father, abbot (it’s first used with this sense in the Syrian monasteries).
• Aramaic אבא (‘a·bā): father.

Abbess:

• Old French abbesse, abaesse: abbess. This word replace the Old English one that had came directly from Latin.
• Old English abadisse, abbodesse: abbess.
  
• Lat. abbātissa: abbess, (religious) mother (feminine of abbas).
• Gr. ἀββᾶ (‘a·bba), ἀββᾶς (‘a·bbas): abbot, (religious) father.
• Syriac ܐܒܐ (‘a.bā): father, abbot (it’s first used with this sense in the Syrian monasteries).
• Aramaic אבא (‘a·bā): father.

> Meaning:

• Present: A man who is in charge of a monastery (m)/a woman who is in charge of a convent (f) (Cambridge Dictionary). A man who is the head of an abbey of monks (m)/a woman who is the head of an abbey of nuns (f) (Oxford Dictionary).
• Original: (Religious) father (m)/(religious) she-father (f).