What does the word 'sabbatical' mean?

I copied the definition from below site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatical

A sabbatical year is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an individual taken in order to fulfill some goal, e.g. writing a book or traveling extensively for research. Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, and/or academics offer a paid sabbatical as an employee benefit. Some companies offer an unpaid sabbatical for people wanting to take career breaks.
Sabbaticals are often taken by professors, pastors, cartoonists (e.g. Gary Larson and Bill Watterson), musicians (e.g. Cindy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin) and sportsmen (e.g. Alain Prost).
In UK students' unions, particularly in higher education institutions, students can be elected to become sabbatical officers of their students' union, either taking a year out of their study (in the academic year following their election) or remaining at the institution for a year following completion of study. Sabbatical officers are usually provided with a living allowance or stipend.

Thanks, Saeeda! My 'sabbatical' will be more like a month (?) rather than a year - unfortunately the British Council don't pay me when I am not teaching!!!

Tony