(Heb. Abel'-, אָבֵלאּ, a name of several villages in Palestine, with additions in the case of the more important, to distinguish them from one another (see each in its alphabetical order). From a comparison of the Arabic and Syriac, it appears to mean fresh grass; and the places so named may be conceived to have been in peculiarly verdant situations (Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 14; see, however, other significations in Lengerke, Kenaan, 1:358; Hengstenberg, Pentat. 2, 261). (See ABILA).
In 1 Samuel 6:18, it is used as an appellative, and probably signifies a grassy plain. In this passage, however, perhaps we should read (as in the margin) אֶבֶן, stone, instead of אָבֵל, Abel, or meadow, as the context (verses 14, 15) requires, and the Sept. and Syriac versions explain; the awkward insertion of our translators, "the great [stone of] Abel," would thus be unnecessary.
In 2 Samuel 20:14; 2 Samuel 20:18, ABEL (See ABEL) stands alone for ABELBETH-MAACHAH (See ABELBETH-MAACHAH) (q. V.).