Abaddon is a Biblical Hebrew word meaning "destruction".
In Biblical poetry it comes to mean "place of destruction", and so the underworld or Sheol (cf. Job xxvi. 6; Prov. xv. 11). In Rev. ix. 11 Abaddon is used of Hell personified, the prince of the underworld.
The term is here explained as Apollyon (q.v.), the "destroyer", W. Baudissin (Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklo padie) notes that Hades and Abaddon in Rabbinic literature are employed as personal names, just as shemayya in Dan. iv. 23, shamayim ("heaven"), and makom ("place") among the Rabbis, are used of God.
(From the Gutenberg Encyclopedia, 1911)
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