# What does 'Abel and Cain' refer to?

'Abel and Cain' are the biblical brothers whose story is retold with legendary embellishments in Muslim tradition; Brewer records the version in circulation in 1898. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), human-proofread transcription on English Wikisource records: “The Mahometan tradition of the death of Abel is this: Cain was born with a twin sister who was named Aclima, and Abel with a twin sister named Jumella. Adam wished Cain to marry Abel's twin sister, and Abel to marry Cain's. Cain would not consent to arrangement, and Adam proposed to refer the question to God by means of a sacrifice. God rejected Cain's sacrifice to signify his disapproval of his marriage with Aclima, his twin sister, and Cain slew his brother in a fit of jealousy.”

## What it means

- Verbatim from Brewer's (1898): The Mahometan tradition of the death of Abel is this: Cain was born with a twin sister who was named Aclima, and Abel with a twin sister named Jumella. Adam wished Cain to marry Abel's twin sister, and Abel to marry Cain's. Cain would not consent to arrangement, and Adam proposed to refer the question to God by means of a sacrifice. God rejected Cain's sacrifice to signify his disapproval of his marriage with Aclima, his twin sister, and Cain slew his brother in a fit of jealousy.

## Action steps

1. Modern usage: 'Abel and Cain' are the biblical brothers whose story is retold with legendary embellishments in Muslim tradition; Brewer records the version in circulation in 1898.
2. When quoting the origin, cite Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — this is a 19th-century record, not a modern etymology.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Wikisource proofread text](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_Dictionary_of_Phrase_and_Fable/Abel_and_Cain)

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