\ifdefiningfootnotes
\DeclareFixedFootnote{\fnAbraam}{ ABRAAM "Abraham." The Greek (LXX/NT) form of Hebrew Avraham — indeclinable, transliterated 
directly rather than given a Greek grammatical ending, as befits so foundational a name. 
Originally ABRAM ("exalted father"), the name is changed by divine speech in Genesis 17:5 to 
ABRAHAM, understood there as "father of a multitude [of nations]" — one of the few instances 
in Scripture where a name's meaning is not merely traditional etymology but is stated as the 
explicit content of the text itself: the name is remade to match a promised destiny.

Luke's Magnificat invokes ABRAAM at its close (1:55) — "as he spoke to our fathers, to ABRAAM 
and his seed forever" — anchoring MARIAM's song of reversal (the proud scattered, the humble 
raised) to the oldest covenant promise in Israel's memory. The child about to be born is set, 
from the very first chapter, within a story already centuries deep.}
\fi

