What is "abba"

Abba \Ab"ba\ ([a^]b"b[.a]), n. [Syriac abb[=a] father. See Abbot.] Father; religious superior; -- in the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches, a title given to the bishops, and by the bishops to the patriarch.

Swedish pop music group formed 1972, the name dates from 1973 and is an acronym from the first names of the four band members: Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog.

title of honor, from Latin abba, from Greek abba, from Aramaic abba "the father, my father," emphatic of abh "father."

n. (context Christianity English) Father, (non-gloss definition: an honorific title given to God in the New Testament, especially used in prayers).(R:MW3 1976) (First attested around 1350 to 1470.)(R:SOED5: page=3)

ABBA (stylised ᗅᗺᗷᗅ; ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at The Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest, and are the most successful group ever to take part in the competition.

ABBA's record sales figure is uncertain and various estimates range from over 140 to over 500 million sold records. This makes them one of the best-selling music artists. ABBA was the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and on a lesser scale, the U.S. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

During the band's active years, Fältskog & Ulvaeus and Lyngstad & Andersson were married. At the height of their popularity, both relationships were suffering strain which ultimately resulted in the collapse of the Ulvaeus–Fältskog marriage in 1979 and the Andersson–Lyngstad marriage in 1981. These relationship changes were reflected in the group's music, with later compositions featuring more introspective and dark lyrics in contrast to their usual pure-pop sound.

After ABBA disbanded in December 1982, Andersson and Ulvaeus achieved success writing music for the stage, while Lyngstad and Fältskog pursued solo careers with mixed success. ABBA's music declined in popularity until the purchase of ABBAs catalogue and record company Polar by Polygram in 1989 enabled the groundwork to be laid for an international re-issue of all their original material and a new Greatest Hits ( ABBA Gold) collection in the Autumn of 1992 which became a worldwide smash. Several films, notably Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), further revived public interest in the group and the spawning of several tribute bands. In 1999, ABBA's music was adapted into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that toured worldwide. A film of the same name, released in 2008, became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year.

ABBA were honoured at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, when their hit " Waterloo" was chosen as the best song in the competition's history. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

ABBA was a Swedish pop music group.

Abba may also refer to:

• ABBA (album), a self-titled album by the Swedish pop music group ABBA
• ABBA: The Movie, a feature-length film about the pop group ABBA's 1977 Australian tour
• ABBA, in poetry, a rhyming pattern of a quatrain
• Abba Abba, a short novel by Anthony Burgess
• Abba Seafood, a Swedish seafood products company
• A-B-B-A, a term used for a diesel electric locomotive lashup consisting of two cabless B units sandwiched between two cab A units.

'ABBA ' is the eponymously titled third (second internationally) studio album by the Swedish pop group of the same name. It was originally released on 21 April 1975 through Polar Music and featured the hits " Mamma Mia" and " SOS".

Abba is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Cele Abba (1906–1992), Italian stage and film actress
• Dimi Mint Abba (born 1958), Mauritanian musician
• Giuseppe Cesare Abba (1838–1910), Italian patriot and writer
• Marta Abba (1900–1988), Italian stage actress

Abba is a form of ab, meaning "father" in many Semitic languages. It is used as a given name, but was also used as a title or honorific for religious scholars or leaders. (The word abbot has the same root.)

It also seems to be a shortened form of the name Abraham.