Bible Encyclopedias
Abimael

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Abimael', אֲבַימָאֵל , father of Mael; Sept. Ἀβιμαέλ, Ἀβιμιεήλ , Josephus Ἀβιμάηλος), one of the sons of Joktan in Arabia (Genesis 10:28; 1 Chronicles 1:22). B.C. post 2414. (See ARABIA). He was probably the father or founder of an Arabian tribe called Maal (מָאֵל, of unknown origin), a trace of which Bochart (Phaleg, 2:24) discovers in Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 9:4), where the name Mali (Μάλι ) occurs as that of a spice-bearing region. Perhaps the same is indicated in Eratosthenes (ap. Strabo, 16:1112) and Eustathius (ad Dionys. Periegetes, p. 288, ed. Bernhardy) by the Mincei (Μειναῖ oi). So Diodorus Siculus (3, 42); but Ptolemy (6:7) distinguishes the Manitae (Μανῖται ) from these, and at the same time refers to a village called Manialia (Μάμαλα κώμη) on the shore of the Red Sea. Hence Schneider proposes to read Mamali (Μαμάλι) in the above passage of Theophrastus; perhaps we should rather read Mani (Μάνι ), a natural interchange of liquids; and then we may compare a place mentioned by Abulfeda (Arabia, ed. Gaguier, p. 3, 42), called Mlinay, 3 miles from Mecca (Michaelis, Spicileg. 2:179 sq.).

Bibliography Information
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Abimael'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tce/​a/abimael.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.