 "Avi" (אב"י) is an acronym for Eliezer Ben Yehuda (as written in Hebrew) and also means "my father", so Ben-Avi means "my father's son".At the age of 19, Ben-Avi sailed to Europe and studied at universities in Paris and Berlin.He returned to Palestine in 1908 as a journalist, joining his father in editing and writing Hebrew newspapers.