Apphus
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
APPHUS ( 1M Malachi 2:5 ). The surname of Jonathan the Maccabee. The name is usually thought to mean ‘dissembler’; and some suppose that it was given to Jonathan for his stratagem against the tribe of the Jambri, who had killed his brother John ( 1Ma 9:37-41 ).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
af´us , ap´fus : A name borne by Jonathan, the fifth son of Mattathias (Ἀπφούς , Apphoús , 1 Macc 2:5). All the brothers, according to this passage, had double names; John is said to have been called Gaddis; Simon, Thassi; Judas, Maccabeus; Eleazar, Avaran; Jonathan, Apphus (1 Macc 2:2-5). The latter were probably the names which Mattathias gave his sons, while the former were received later when they became "leaders of the people." The common explanation of the word "Apphus" relates it to the Syriac חפּוּשׂ , ḥoppūs , "the dissembler"; but Torrey (article "Maccabees," Encyclopedia Biblica ) points out that we have no means of ascertaining with what guttural consonant the word began, or what Semitic consonant the Greek ς , "s" represents. Both the form and meaning of the name are, therefore, still to be explained.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [3]
(pron. Af'fus, Ἀπφοῦς [and so Josephus, Ant. 12, 6,1] v. r. Σαφφοῦς or Σαπφοῦς ), the surname (1 Maccabees 2:5) of Jonathan Maccabseus (see Ewald, Gesch. Isr. 3, 2:353), apparently (Frankel, Vorstud. zur LXX, p. 96) from the Syro-Chald. חִפּוּשׂ, chappus', crafty (Grimm, Handb. in loc.).
