Abigail
Abigail (אביגיל "Father/leader of/is dance/joy", 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, on whose death she became the 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.
