The use of the word _Abot_ (fathers), in the title, is of very ancient date. We can only guess at the reason for its being used, and, consequently, there are various explanations for it. Samuel de Uceda, in his collective commentary, says that as this tractate of the _Mishnah_ contains the advice and good counsel, which, for the most part, come from a father, the Rabbis mentioned in it adopt the role of "fathers," and are therefore so designated. This explanation does not, however, deter him from advancing another to the effect that this treatise is the basis of all subsequent ethical and moral teachings and doctrines, and the Rabbis are, in consequence, the "fathers" or prototypes of all ethical teachers and moralists (4). Loeb attributes its use to the fact that the Rabbis of _Abot_ are the "fathers" or "ancestors of Rabbinic Judaism" (5). Hoffman states that the word _abot_ means "teachers of tradition" (_Traditionslehrer_), and points to the expression _abot ha-olam_ (_Eduyot_, I. 4), which, translated literally, is "fathers of the world," but is used to designate the most distinguished teachers, which is a true characterization of the Rabbis of _Abot_ (6). Taylor says in regard to the title, "It takes its name from the fact that it consists to a great extent of the maxims of the Jewish Fathers whose names are mentioned in the pages" (7). Hoffmann's seems the most acceptable explanation. (4) _Midrash Shemuel_ (ed. Warsaw, 1876), p. 6. The _Midrash Shemuel_ is a collective commentary, first published in Venice in 1579, and which has since passed through six editions. See p. 22, n. 21. (5) _La Chaine_, etc., p. 307, n. 1. (6) See Hoffman, _Seder Nesikin, Introd._, p. xx, and p. 258, n. 36. In this passage of _Eduyot_, Hillel and Shammai are referred to as _abot ha-olam_; in _Yerushalmi Shekalim_, III, 47b, Rabbi and Ishmael and Rabbi Akiba, and in _Yerushalmi Chagigah_, II, 77d, all the pairs of _Abot_ I are similarly designated. (7) Taylor, _loc. cit._ PURPOSE The original aim of _Abot_ was to show the divine source and authority of the traditional law revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and to demonstrate its continuity from Moses through Joshua, the elders, and the men of the Great Synagogue, down to those Rabbis who lived during the period between 200 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. Loeb maintains that _Abot_ was originally a composition of the Pharisaic Rabbis who wished to indicate that the traditions held and expounded by them, and which the Sadducees repudiated, were divine and, in time and sequence, uninterruptedly authoritative (8). This line of continuous tradition is plainly seen in the first two chapters. A second and probably later purpose was to present a body of practical maxims and aphorisms for the daily guidance of the people.