Etymology

Not conclusively known. The name, which was a personal epithet of Judas Maccabeus and not an inherited surname, may derive from the Aramaic [script needed] ‎(makkaba, “hammer”), in reference to Judas’s ferocity in battle. Conversely, the traditional Jewish explanation is that מַכַּבִּי ‎(makkabbī) is an acronym both of מִי־כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה ‎(Mi chamocha ba’elim YHWH, “Who is like You among the heavenly powers, Hashem!”) — the Torah’s Exodus 15:11, which was the Maccabees’ battle-cry — and of מַתִּתְיָהוּ בֶּן יוֹחָנָן הַכֹּהֵן ‎(Matityahu ben Yoḥanan HaKohen, “Mattathias”). Yet another possibility is that the name is a corruption of [Term?] ‎(“Machbanai”).