Etymology
There has been much speculation as to the origins of the religious endonym from this practice. Segal (1963) argued that the term Sābi'ūn derives from the Syriac root S-b-', referring to conversion through submersion.
The Syriac (and Hebrew) nouns derived from this root refer to proselytes, both "Judaisers" — non-converts who followed certain basic rules of Judaism — and early Christian converts of non-Jewish origin and practice. These latter were called Theosebeians "God-fearers", Sebomenoi "Believers", or Phobeomenoi (Φοβεόμενοι) "pious ones" in Greek sources. The Greek etymology of sebomai (σέβομαι), applied to the proselytes, is in the word eusebian (εὐσέβειαν), meaning a kind of godliness and reverence or worshipfulness.
According to Islamic scholars, the word Sābi'ūna (Sabian) is derived from the verb saba’a, which refers to the action of leaving one religion and entering another.
- Tabari said: as-Sābi'ūn is the plural of Sābi', which means "proselyte" who has left his original religion, or anyone who has left the religion that he used to follow and joins another. The Arabs called such a person Sābi'.
Sabians practiced initiation through submersion in water, intended to harken to the inundation of the world during the deluge of the time of Noah which cleansed man's sinful nature from the face of the earth.
Read more about this topic: Sabians
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