5 October 2021
Sabbath is from the Latin sabbatum, which in turn comes via Greek from the Hebrew שַׁבָּת (sabbat), from a root meaning ceasing to work, rest. According to Genesis 2:2–3, after creating the universe in six days, God rested on the seventh. In Exodus 10:8–11, the Ten Commandments order the seventh day of the week to be one of rest. Furthermore, Leviticus 25:1–7 commands that every seventh year be a sabbatical year, in which fields are to lie fallow and most agricultural activity must cease. The weekly sabbath has been scrupulously observed by Jews over the centuries, but the rule on sabbatical years seems to have been inconsistently enforced over the centuries.
While the word sabbath can be found in Old English, the English adjective sabbatical appears much later than one might expect, in the late sixteenth century. In his 1599 A New Treatise of the Right Reckoning of Yeares, Robert Pont refers to the sabbatical years:
That this yeare of Christ, 1600. by right reckoning, is neither a Sabbaticall yeare, nor yet a yeare of Iubilee: and that the true Iubilee of Christianes is alreadie accomplished: with detection of the abuse of the counterfaited Iubilees holden at Rome.
And we see the adjective applied in relation to the weekly observance in Joseph Beaumont’s 1648 poem Psyche: or Loves Mysterie:
Thus the Sabbatick Fount, which all the Week
Keeps close at home, and lets no Drop spurt out;
Exactly watches and attends the Break
Of the seav'nth Day; and then, as quick as thought
Poures out its Flood, and sacrifices all
Its Plenty to that holy Festivall.
Starting in the nineteenth century, sabbatical began to be applied in an expanded sense, referring to a year of research and reflection after six years of work. It was first used this way among the clergy, where ministers would get a year free of pastoral duties in order to study and prepare for the next six years of preaching. We see evidence of this practice as early as 1828 in a letter written by Edward Irving, a Scottish minister:
Next Sabbath is the first of my Sabbatical year. God grant it may be a year of free-will fruitfulness!
Later in the century, universities began adopting a sabbatical system for their faculty, whereby professors would be granted one year off in seven in order to conduct research free of teaching or administrative duties. Harvard University was the first, at least in North America, to implement a sabbatical system for leaves of absence, although it did not use the term sabbatical at the outset. Charles Eliot, president of Harvard, wrote in his annual report dated 7 January 1881:
For some years previous to 1869, the practice had been to grant occasional leave of absence, the professor selecting and paying his substitute, but receiving his usual salary. This practice have given rise to serious complaints, and being obviously open to grave objections, the Corporation went to the opposite extreme, and enacted that whenever a professor had leave of absence his salary should stop altogether. Being now satisfied that a more liberal policy will be as much for the interest of the University as for the advantage of the professors, the Corporation have decided that they will grant occasional leave of absence for one year on half-pay, provided that no professor have such leave oftener than once in seven years; that the applications in any one year be reasonable in number, and properly distributed among the different departments; and that the object of the professor in asking leave of absence be health, rest, study, or the prosecution of original work in literature or science.
Cornell University and Wellesley College followed suit in 1886, implementing similar systems. The earliest use of sabbatical in reference to such a system regards Wellesley’s in 1886:
THE SABBATICAL GRANT, adopted by Harvard College, provides that the professors and assistant professors of the permanent staff of instructors may once in seven years be relieved from academic duty for the period of one year, with their half-salaries continued to them. This gives them opportunity to rest or travel or engage in congenial occupation at home. The result is not wholly satisfactory.
Since then, the time period has become variable, if sabbaticals are granted at all. And some private corporations grant employees sabbatical leave at reduced or no pay from time to time.
Sources:
Beaumont, Joseph. Psyche: or Loves Mysterie. London: John Dawson, 1648, 10.320, 179. Early English Books Online (EEBO).
Eels, Walter Crosby. “The Origin and Early History of Sabbatical Leave.” AAUP Bulletin, 48.3, September 1962, 253–56.
Eliot, Charles W. “President’s Report for 1879–80,” 7 January 1881. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College. 1879–80. Cambridge: UP, John Wilson and Son, 1880, 19–20. Harvard & Radcliffe Annual Reports. [Note the report is signed as of 7 January 1881, but the publication date is given as 1880.]
Irving, Edward. Letter, 19 July 1828. In Oliphant, Margaret. The Life of Edward Irving, vol. 2 of 2. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1862, 35. HathiTrust Digital Archive.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. sabbatical, adj. and n., sabbatic, adj. and n., sabbath, n.
Pont, Robert. A New Treatise of the Right Reckoning of Yeares. Edinburgh: Robert Walde-Grave, 1599, 2. Early English Books Online (EEBO).
“System of Pensions.” Library Festival at Wellesley College. Cambridge: John Wilson and Son, 1886, 23. HathiTrust Digital Archive.